After I devoted this blog to aerial wildland firefighting and related issues in early 2009 it did not take me long to learn about the Erickson Aircrane. Over thirteen years later, I still enjoy watching videos of the Aircrane working wildfires or performing other heavy lift activities. Erickson has a nice webpage chock full of information. If you go their page on their aviation fleet you will see a link for specifications on the S-64E with a link (pdf file) for technical and performance information for the S-64E. Here is an overview of the specifications for the S-64E:
- power plant: 2 pratt and whitney JFTD12A-4A
- 2 to 3 crew
- fuselage length 70 ft (21.3 meters)
- Maximum external cargo: 20,000 lbs (9,072 kg)
- max speed: 115 kts.
- max range: 217 NM
Mission specific equipment includes but is not limited to:
- hoists
- night vision goggles
- fire tank
- foam cannon
- sea snorkle
- pond snorkle
According to Erickson's aerial firefighting webpage the Aircrane has been used for aerial firefighting by these U.S. agencies and international agencies:
- SDGE (San Diego Gas and Electric)
- Los Angeles City Fire (California)
- U.S. Forest Service
- Oregon Department of Forestry
- California Deptartment of Forestry and Fire Protection
- Hellenic Fire Service (Greece)
- The National Aerial Firefighting Center (Australia)
- Forestal Arauco S.A. (Chile)
Erickson's aerial firefighting webpage has some short case study write-ups of some past seasons around the world along with a nice photo gallery.
Here a couple of videos I found to share with you. The first video shows an Aircrane working a wildfire in Greece.
The last video is from Australia.
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