More reflections on ten years of blogging about aerial wildland firefighting from a non-pilot aviation enthusiast

In the fall of 2008, I got interested in wildland firefighting, see my June 29, 2018 article for reflections on learning about wildland firefighting. In late 2008 and early 2009, I met a now very good friend and retired tanker pilot and aviation historian who offered to introduce me the world of aerial wildalnd firefighting. I took him up on his very generous offer. He and I remain good friends to this day. He spent a lot of time with me over e-mail and sometimes over the telephone in the first three or four years of this blog. Through him, I met other retired and current tanker and helicopter pilots as well as others in the business. The help of all this fine folk has been invaluable to me over the years. Ten years later, I know that these friends have my back. This is important because I write this blog more as an observer and not a participant.

I wrote my first article introducing my interest in aerial wildland firefighting on January 23, 2009. About 18 months later I made the decision to change the name of the blog, making a quiet but more public commitment to blogging aboutaerial wildland firefighting and related concerns. Little did I know that for years I had buried what I know now to be a lifelong passion for aviation. As I learned about the world of aerial wildland firefighting, my thirst for knowing about aviation grew.

A dream that I had of getting a pilot’s license can never happen. That is the things are sometimes. But I did not let the fact that I will never be licensed pilot stop me. I attended aviation ground school, but never went further than that. Through aviation ground school, I learned the basics of flying, at least as much as I could through books. I was fortunate that I found some pilot friends who took me flying, I was always in the right seat and never handled the controls of the airplane. Yes, at the direction of the pilot, I may tune in the radio to the correct frequency. I had learned a little about navigation so I can plot a route and follow along on my maps using visual cues on the ground.

I love to read about flying. When I am reading a book that was written by a pilot, in a sense I can fly through their words and their descriptions of the landscapes they flew over. I like reading about aviation history and am currently reading a couple of books about the early female pilots, including but not limited to Amelia Earhart, there a slew of lesser know female pilots of that era, some died. But many male pilots died as well. I have huge amounts of respects for these early women of the air. I promise to write more about some of these women in later articles, but I want to finish reading these books first.

I also like videos shot from the cockpit, both fire fighting tankers and helicopters as well as general aviation aircraft.

My passion for aviation has broadened my horizons in other ways, I have gotten more interested in weather and try to pay some attention to the aviation resources that NOAA and other agencies use to help weather forecasters.

I would be remiss to not take a moment to remember all the wildland firefighters on the ground, I have learned about the work that you do over these ten years. The air support, when available, is there to help these “ground pounders” fight wildfires. I learned about how the ground pounders communicate with aerial resources, that they work together to contain the fire.

I am not a wildland firefighter or any other kind of firefighter. I hope that my blog honors all the great work that you do, whether you be a firefighter on the ground or in the air.

Most important, I’d like to thank all of you who read this blog, I try to take you along on these various journeys that I have embarked on over these ten years.