On 20th November 2024, Prof Antonio Filippone of the University of Manchester delivered a webinar on aerial firefighting using helicopters. This is part of the Vertical Flight Society UK Chapter seminar series 2024.
Fighting fires is done increasingly for the air by using a variety of assets, because of accessibility, extent of the fires and urgency. Fires now affect regions of the world that are not associated to extreme heat waves, including northern Canada, arctic Russia, and Siberia. The firefighting fleet is made of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, most of which are converted from other uses. There is a very limited number of vehicles specifically designed for firefighting, but no helicopter. All helicopters are converted from other types of missions.
This webinar reviewed the role and characteristics of the helicopters used today, and makes an assessment on response time, drop of retardants, cycle, and overall cost. A novel aspect is the analysis of flight tracking data. ADS-B data have been collected and analysed for several vehicles and fire incidents across. Flight tracks indicate patterns of cycles, duration, speeds, altitudes and returning to base. The data can be used to learn about performance, effectiveness of firefighting techniques, risks to flight safety, and direct operating costs.
Find out the seminar recording on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMgB2raj4EI
More seminars are planned for the near future. Please stay tuned for our media!