Basic Wildfire Fighting Operations

This course will be of interest to pilots who would like work in forest fire suppression operations.  It will provide the candidate with the knowledge and the basic wildfire fighting skills as outlined by the Helicopter Association of Canada in their publication Pilot Competencies for Helicopter Wildfire Operations - Best Practices Training and Evaluation.  This publication is a joint effort between government and helicopter industry representatives that outline recommended competency standards for helicopter pilots working in wildfire operations.  The competencies outlined in this document include:

• General Wildfire Operations Knowledge
• Mountain Flying
• External Load – Short Line (horizontal reference), Long Line (vertical reference), Precision Load Placement, Water Bucketing / Tanking
• Class D External Loads
• Aerial Ignition Device (AID) and Drip Torching
• Hover Exit
• Confined Area Operations
• Low Visibility Flight

Because of the specialized nature and variety of equipment used from operator to operator, Class D External Load and Aerial Ignition Devise Training is excluded from our program.  This training will be completed by the Air Operator when pilots are assigned these duties.  

Mountain flying is unique to western operations and has been separated from the syllabus. For those pilots who anticipate operating in the mountains this course may be combined with our 20-hour Mountain Flying Course as an additional 5-hour flight time and 2-hour ground school component.

This course includes 5 hours of ground school and 10 hours of flight training.

Ground school includes the following topics:

• Pertinent Canadian Aviation Regulations
• Thunderstorm Hazards to Flight
• The Incident Command System
• Wildfire Air Operations; Bucket/Tank use
• Fire-line Terminology
• Fire Behaviour; Fuel Types, Fire Rank, Fire Weather
• Fire Airspace and Traffic Coordination
• Low Visibility Flying Techniques
• Embarking and Disembarking Passengers from the Hover and Toe-in
• Passenger Safety and Operations Briefing
• Confined Area Operations

The flight training syllabus includes:

• 8.0 hours external load training using a 100 foot long-line (including water bucketing)
• 1.0 hour confined area training
• 0.5 hour embarking and disembarking passengers from the hover and toe-in
• 0.5 hours reduced visibility training and inadvertent IMC recovery

To meet the guideline standards the candidate must be able to deliver the remote hook within a 3 x 3 foot area and hold it there for 30 seconds (with a 1-foot tolerance).  For water-bucketing operations the candidate must place 80% of the water within a 10 x 10 foot area.

Costs

10 hours flight training @ $825 per hour: $8,250

Ground School included

Books and Study material included

Total cost $8,250

Back to the top