Firefighting pilots spotlighted at Air Venture
Honor at aviation event comes after worst wildfire season in California
OSHKOSH - Flying Apache attack helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan prepared Tim Cherwin for his current job.
The foe might be different but sometimes it’s just as dangerous battling forest fires in a twin-engine turboprop plane.
War zones and forest fires in the western United States — which Cherwin has fought from the air for the past five years — offer similar challenges: mountainous terrain, low altitude flying, extreme heat, changing weather conditions and endangered lives.
“It’s a rewarding type of flying,” Cherwin said Friday at EAA AirVenture.
For the first time, firefighting planes and their crews are being saluted at the week-long aviation convention, which ends Sunday. More than a dozen firefighting aircraft have gathered in Oshkosh with some of the airborne tankers demonstrating water drops during afternoon air shows.
‘Unsung heroes of aviation’
Though firefighting aircraft have visited EAA AirVenture before, including the huge Martin Mars water bomber
“Our mission is to get guys there fast. We’re flying 180 mph. Speed is what we do. You probably couldn’t effectively fight fires without aircraft.” Matt Smith flies a Short C-23A Sherpa turboprop for the U.S. Forest Service
that came to Oshkosh from British Columbia in 2016, organizers this year decided to invite planes and crews who battle wildfires.
“One thing occurred to us, we’ve never had a celebration of them and what they do,” said EAA AirVenture spokesman Dick Knapinski. “They’re kind of the unsung heroes of aviation. They save lives and property and yet few people ever see them up close.”
Last year was the worst wildfire season in California with almost 2 million acres burned in more than 8,500 fires, killing 103 people including six firefighters and all but wiping the town of Paradise off the map.
Cherwin, who earned his pilot’s license while attending St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, flies as a forward controller, hovering 500 to 1,000 feet above fires to direct other aircraft ranging from helicopters to amphibious water tankers while also advising crews on the ground. In a way, he’s an air traffic controller helping make sure firefighting aircraft operate safely in often chaotic conditions.
Based in Bozeman, Montana, and working for Bridger Aerospace, which contracts with the U.S. Forest Service, Cherwin usually spends four hours in the air before returning to a nearby base to rest and refuel.
“Fires can generate their own weather. They emit a lot of heat but sometimes they can also emit a lot of moisture,” Cherwin said. “If you have very green trees, with intense heat that moisture has to go someplace.”
Situational awareness — checking surroundings, always having an escape route should an emergency occur — is second nature to Cherwin each time he flies, a skill he learned in the Army.
From his vantage point he can see dead trees, called “widow makers,” which can fall on firefighters, and he notifies ground crews of hazards.
1,500 gallons in 10 seconds
Among the firefighting planes at Oshkosh this week is the huge red and yellow Viking Canadair amphibian plane parked next to the flight line at AirVenture. During demonstrations it flies to nearby Lake Winnebago where it skims the surface to suck up water before turning back to the airport and dropping its aquatic payload while attendees hold up cell phones and cameras.
“It picks up 1,500 gallons in 10 seconds,” said pilot Jim Vissers, of Port Alberni, British Columbia. “We’re on the water for only about 15 seconds.”
The entire trip from takeoff at Wittman International Airport in Oshkosh to Lake Winnebago, scooping up water, then back to the airport takes only two minutes.
“It’s a real hands-on airplane. It’s real heavy,” said Vissers.
‘Speed is what we do’
Matt Smith and Shane Bak fly a Short C-23A Sherpa turboprop for the U.S. Forest Service. The aircraft can carry up to 10 smoke jumpers with full gear or pallets of equipment and supplies like bottled water, MREs, hoses, pumps and other equipment that’s pushed out the back to float down to ground crews via parachute.
Smith, who is based in California, was a smoke jumper for 13 years before becoming a pilot five years ago “because smoke jumping is a young man’s job,” he said standing in front of a Sherpa parked at Boeing Plaza on the AirVenture grounds.
Aircraft play an extremely important role in fighting wildfires, said Bak, who is based in Montana.
“Our mission is to get guys there fast. We’re flying 180 mph. Speed is what we do,” Smith added. “You probably couldn’t effectively fight fires without aircraft.”
After World War II many of the warbirds that survived air battles were repurposed for firefighting. But in recent years those planes have been phased out and newer super tankers and planes with the latest technology are taking their place.
Bak has piloted firefighting planes for 22 years. It’s not easy flying. Aviators can’t use autopilot in trying conditions that can range from thermals rising out of flaming forests to flying low through mountain ranges. “It makes your flying way more turbulent because of the convective activity like thunderstorms that might have started the fire,” Bak said. “Sometimes you’re flying through the same weather.”
Though last year was horrendous for wildfires in the West, so far it’s been relatively quiet. Had AirVenture invited firefighting crews last year, it’s doubtful so many would have been able to come because they were so busy, said Cherwin, who attended AirVenture as a child with his father, Bill.
Now he’s getting a chance to demonstrate his plane in front of crowds.
“It’s an honor. It really is a big deal for someone to fly at Oshkosh. We love to come show people what we do,” Cherwin said.