Helicopter steals pool water to fight fire

[guysmiley123]

Impressive! Not a lot of clearance around the rotor blades.

[sky's the limit]

And that, is why we use long lines... I'm baffled why some pilots refuse to learn to long line properly yet put themselves in situations like this. Not saying this guy doesn't know how as I have no idea who he/she is, but can't imagine belly hooking a bucket in that environment.

It's much easier than long lining of course, some people prefer it for that reason, but again I can't imagine making that choice.

[Gilles Hudicourt]

A friend of mine has a house with a pool in southern France and was told that the Securité Civile, which operates firefighting aircraft out of the Marseilles airport nearby, has the right to take water from her pool should they need it to fight a a nearby fire. The law allows it......

[sky's the limit]

Allows it here too Gilles.

[trampbike]

And that, is why we use long lines...

In some case (like maybe this one) wouldn't a long line oscillate much more, obliging the pilot to maneuver more gently, hence increasing the time between each loads?

[sky's the limit]

And that, is why we use long lines...

In some case (like maybe this one) wouldn't a long line oscillate much more, obliging the pilot to maneuver more gently, hence increasing the time between each loads?

Not at all. Dead steady if you're good at it. And much safer as you can see what is going on by looking vertically down, and then not exposing the machine to the hazards near the ground.

It's all about hazard mitigation, and by using a 100ft, or 150ft line in this instance, you are able to safely grab buckets from water sources of all kinds that would otherwise be inaccessible. I've dipped from two swimming pools over the years, one an in-ground like that and the other an above ground with wires around the yard. You can bring the bucket down vertically and then lift it out the same way it came in. You do have to be steady however but once you are skilled in other long line type work, these types of things are quite simple. Setting power poles and steel, or other construction type work takes a great deal more skill than something like this would.

A long line can actually be faster when you really know how to use it. In "production" type LL work, ie. Logging, Seismic bags, etc, speed and accuracy are the key. In the time it takes to fly that machine down to the pond and out again, you can swing a bucket in along a parabolic arc and into the pool, then lift it out again with almost no time stopped above it. Certainly a very advanced technique, and not one a lot of pilots would be comfortable with, but poetry when you get it down.

[trampbike]

Certainly a very advanced technique, and not one a lot of pilots would be comfortable with, but poetry when you get it down.

Yeah I can imagine!

What are the advantages of a short line?

[sky's the limit]

Belly hooking, or "short lining," takes a lot less skill to learn, and in the old days most pilots did all manner of jobs "off the belly" like this. However, times change and long lining - especially in the mountains - is a much more effective method for almost everything these days. The only time I ever belly hook anything is in Ontario where the antiquated OMNR still forces us to remove the dual controls on the left side where we sit (In the Mediums) to long line from. In no other instance would I short line. Not that many don't move load on short lines all the time - they do - but when you have very unstable loads like wood, boats, or many others, it's downright scary compared to a 150ft line where the load is far away from the machine doing it's thing.

Can you imagine this on a short line?

IMG_0978.jpg (441.05 KiB) Viewed 1956 times

[fijdor]

Allows it here too Gilles.

The difference overthere is that the Goverment pays part of the contruction of the swimming pool with the "condition of"
we will use the water in case of fire, if needed. They do replenish the pool once it's over.

As far as picking up/sucking up water out of swimming pools, is a standard practice in Europe (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy)
due to the fact that there are almost no lakes or natural water sources and if there is one, it is not deep enough, simply too dry. They collect water during winter and spring in some areas into concrete tanks or anything that can hold water till summer season.

That in the video is an Astar, a small helicopter, we use to do the same thing with medium helicopters like the B205/212 equipped
with the Conair Fire Tank. That would be in little private pools like in the video or big municipal pools right Downtown large cities.
All legal stuff. Sometimes there was no choices because they set fire to the city parks. We had to do our approaches right in between High Rises with people looking down at us. In many occasions.

The LongLine could be a slight improvement like Sky the limit says but you need to know what your doing to use it. The problem with
the bucket (short or longline) is that in many places where the water is, you have only a small opening, concrete tanks, railway tank cars,
water trucks that they bring to you close to the fire or a retardant truck that plugs in to the tank for fill ups, a bambi would not fit in there at all. There is always the sea if you are close enough but the over-spray gets in the engine and by the end of the summer there won't be much left of the compressor, I know.

Jacques

[The Mole]

Same helicopter, camera mounted next to the tail-rotor. The most logical spot for a go-pro of course.

and this kids is why we learn to longline.......... turn speakers down