I know enough about aviation to know that it is important that any pilot go through their mandated recurrency training that depending on the type of pilot license they have the FAA requires annual or semi-annual training in the specific aircraft they fly. In the world of aerial firefighting this means two things. One is that each year they have to go through FAA mandated recurrency training for the specific aircraft that they will be flying. Once the pilot has completed their annual aircraft specific recurrency training they go through recurrency training mandated by the agency contract to fly fires. I know from reading old federal tanker contracts that this training to fly fires involves getting what is known as an initial attack card. A new pilot goes through an involved and detailed training period before they get their initial attack card. This initial attack card allows the pilot to fly a fire without air attack or a lead plane. Each year the pilots flying firefighting aircraft on contract with an agency have to renew their initial attack card which involves making some water drops.
I just came across a video from 2015 from Rotorcraft Pro of CAL FIRE's helicopter training and preparation. To read more about CAL FIRE's aviation program go here. At the time of this video CAL FIRE was flying Bell UH-1H Super Huey helicopters. CAL FIRE is in the process or has already upgraded all of their helicopter fleet to Sikorsky S70i helicopters (CAL FIRE Hawk) This video may be somewhat dated as it is specific to the Super Huey's they were flying in 2015, but I think that some of the training topics and exercises have applications, with appropriate reworking and modification, for the CAL FIRE Hawk as well as other aerial firefighting aircraft. I suspect that this video discusses both the FAA mandated annual recurrency training for the helicopter as well as training to renew their initial attack card. Enjoy
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