SEAT Training in SE Texas for Upcoming Wildfire Season

 

  Direct link to April 3rd video from KFDM News on YouTube

Annual training for current and new pilots and their aircraft who will engage in wildland firefighting over the coming wildfire season is occurring around the country. The pilots of SEATs (single engine aircraft) that will engage in fighting wildfires in southeast is going on at a small airport in Winnie in southeast Texas. Enjoy the video from KFDM News reporting on SEAT training 

At ARC Aviation in Winnie, crews are training and gearing up single-engine air tankers, known as SEAT aircraft, to respond quickly when flames break out. The pilots are being put through training exercises designed to simulate real fire conditions as the company prepares for what it expects could be a dangerous season. “We're doing pilot of the evaluation and check rides and training. We're getting ready for a pretty intense Fire season coming up due to the high drought levels and high temperature, record temperatures,” said Andrew Mitchell, CEO of ARC Aviation of Texas. 

Obtained on April 6th from https://kfdm.com/news/local/winnie-airport-trains-seat-air-tankers-as-southeast-texas-wildfire-season-ramps-up

Friday Fun: SEAT in Action in July 2025 Flying a Fire in Washington State.

As regular followers know, as circumstances allow I do try to share what I consider fun aerial aviation videos on Friday. Fun for me means that I enjoy the video and learn something at the same time. I checked out Simon Butler Aviation on YouTube, a channel I like to check for his good aviation videos, he shares many interesting videos including but not limited to aerial firefighting. So, I checked out his Youtube Channel today and saw this eleven minute video that I am sharing with you today shot by the pilot of single-engine air tanker (SEAT), the pilot shared this video with Simon Butler Aviation. The video was shot somewhere in the vicinity of Deer Park, WA where you will see the SEAT taking off and landing. The SEAT is a scooper, and you will see the SEAT filling their tanks with water in this video. I too love this video, shot by the pilot showing their point of view, as someone who is not a pilot, I always enjoy these pilot's point of view videos. 

A heads up that you will see a couple of "commercial breaks" in the video.  

You may note the mention of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation in the description of the video, they do good work and I encourage you to check out their site.

   

  Direct link to January 2026 video from Simon Butler Aviation on YouTube 

2024 Wildfire Season: Mostly SEATs

 I have been thinking about Single Engine Airtankers (SEATs) recently and just found this nice video, about 9 minutes where you will see primarily SEATs working wildfires in Oregon and Idaho in 2024. I have a lot of respect for the important work that SEATs do in helping groundpounders fight wildfires.

Direct link to video on YouTube

Fatal AT802 Crash July 25th Seneca, Oregon

Direct link to video from KTVB on YouTube

Early last Friday morning (July 26th) I learned that a SEAT (AT-802) was missing in the vicinity of the Falls Fire near Seneca Oregon. Later that evening I learned that investigators had found the crash site and the pilot, the sole occupant, had died in the crash. I followed this crash over the weekend and saw a post from the BLM in Oregon and Washington saying that James Bailey Maxwell, 74 was flying the SEAT when it crashed on July 25th. I offer my condolences to the family, friends, colleagues and all who loved James. James, may you always fly in favorable winds. I will not forget your sacrifice, may you rest in peace.

Fatal AT802A Scooper Crash July 9 Montana

I am saddened to write of another fatal SEAT crash, an amphibious AT-802 "Scooper" aka Fireboss from Dauntless Air piloted by Juliana Turchetti crashed while working the Horse Gulch Fire in Montana (burned 10,849 acres at 0 percent containment). I offer my prayers on condolences to Juliana's family, her colleagues from Dauntless and all who loved her. May she always fly in favorable winds.

According to the Daily Montanan (July 11th)

 

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton released Turchetti’s identity to the Daily Montanan just after noon on Thursday. The FireBoss pilot died when her plane, a single-engine water-scooping Air Tractor AT-802, hit the mountainside and landed in Hauser Lake, Dutton said in a text message.

Turchetti was employed by Idaho-based Dauntless Air, a company operating firefighting aircraft for more than 25 years who has held state and federal contracts since 2009, according to the company’s website. The company was contracted to fly for the Idaho Department of Lands but was on loan to the U.S. Forest Service, a spokesperson for the Forest Service said.

Dutton said Turchetti was a native of Brazil who was working in the U.S. on a visa. Dutton said Turchetti leaves behind a 17-year-old son and “numerous” family members in Brazil.

 Juliana was also an Ag pilot, one of the first women in Brazil to fly Ag planes. 

How BLM Fire Uses SEATs

 Sometimes I luck out when I am looking on social media for things to share with you. Yesterday I saw on my Youtube feed a video from the National Interagency Fire Center on their YouTube channel about how the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM0 fire aviation program about their use of Single Engine Airtankers (SEATs) and all the support personal who work with the SEATs. I am aware of the good work that the BLM does out west and applaud their use of SEATs on wildfires in and around their territory. I learned a lot from this video not only about SEATs but also from SEAT aviation managers at various bases used by SEATs. Enjoy. Allow for under six minutes to watch this video.

Direct link from the National Interagency Fire Center on YouTube

2024 Wildfire Season: New BLM SEAT Base in Casper WY

 Direct link to Facebook post by Casper/Natrona County International Airport

I have a lot of respect for the Bureau of Land Management Fire operations in the United States. Further, as regular readers know, I have a lot of respect for Single Engine Airtankers (SEAT) that do important work all over the United States and internationally working wildfires in support of the wildland firefighters on the ground. SEAT bases and other airports capable of handling SEAT traffic and supporting operations in close proximity to wildfires are important. So when I saw reference to the opening of a BLM SEAT base at the Casper/Natrona County International Airport on June 14th, I knew that I wanted to share this with you. I understand that this airport also has a Large Air Tanker base.

Aerial Fire Magazine has a short article about the opening of the new base in Casper that may be found here. In addition, K2Radio out of Wyoming covers the opening of the new base in an article posted after the base opened

Single Engine Airtankers Used by the NJ Forest Fire Service

When I was checking out the New Jersey Forest Fire Services Facebook account yesterday, I noted their April 29th post featuring a two minute video about the single engine air tankers (SEAT) that they have on contract during this spring's wildfire season. Thanks to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildfire Page, I know that there is an 800 gallon SEAT based in central New Jersey and a 600 gallon SEAT based in southern NJ. Thanks to this video I learned more about these SEATS and their pilots. I enjoyed this video and hearing from the two SEAT pilots and I hope that you enjoy it.

The video that I share below is posted by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, the parent agency of the NJ Forest Fire Service

Direct link to video from the NJ Dept of Environmental Protection on YouTube

2024 New Jersey Wildfire Season: April 21st Brush Fire in Ocean County with SEAT drops

 As I was looking on Facebook yesterday at some NJ Forest Fire Service pages, I noted a 9 minute YouTube video from the Jersey Shore Fire Response of the response, including a couple of Air Tanker Drops from a SEAT (Tanker 81). According to the description of the video, the brush fire was reported at about 4:30 PM on April 21st along some train tracks in Manchester Township, Ocean County. Route 70 west was closed for a couple of hours, and the only structure protection was in place at a nearby pallet yard. The brush fire of unknown acreage was contained before the video was posted on YouTube on April 22nd.

In this 9 minute video you will see some units from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service as well as local fire companies, NJ Forest Fire Service ground crews working the fire, dozer operations and two tanker drops. For those that are interested in dozer operations, you may find them at about 1'48" (minutes, seconds) and 3'40". Tanker drops are at 2'12" and 6'59"). You will hear some audio as well. 

Friday Fun: SEATs (2016) Spring Checkouts

I always enjoy watching videos of SEATs. Enjoy this 2016 video from airrailimages of SEATs during early spring checkouts in advance of going on contract for the 2016 wildfire season.

Direct link to video from airrailimages on YouTube

Air tanker training (Oregon) with groundcrews

Training of airtanker pilots and new wildfire fighters along with recurrent training is crucial to safety and good fire fighting techniques. Communications are crucial wildland firefighting including but nor not necessarily limited to safety, weather, resource positioning and firefighting strategy  to name a few. When airtankers and or helicopters of any size are working a wildline fire communications between the tanker and the firefighters on the ground is important. In the video below from KOIN6 in Oregon you will get a birdseye view of Air Tractor Fire Boss training with wildland fire ground crews to practice good communications on the fireline. Thanks to my friends at NJFFS Section B10 who recently shared this video on their website.

Direct link to video from KOIN6 on YouTube

2022 New Jersey wildfire season: Tanker 61 working the Aero Haven Fire (Burlington County)

I want to take a moment to share with you some photos and a video of Tanker 61 (Air Tractor 602) working the Aero Haven Fire on Sunday, May 1st. The Aero Haven Fire burned 63 acres and was 100 percent contained by Sunday afternoon, see my May 1st post for more information. The video and the photos are courtesy of Downstown Aero Crop Service, Inc and were shared on their Facebook Page.

In this 9 second video you will see Tanker 61 being reloaded.

Here are five nice shots of Tanker 61 working the Aero Haven Fire. Note to see all the photos click on the date at the top of the embedded post from Facebook and you will be able to see all five photos.

Thank-you Tanker 61, for flying the fire to help the wildland fire fighters fight the fire. Thanks also to the ground crews from Downstown and elsewhere who supported Tanker 61 on the ground.

Single-Engine AirTankers (from 2017)

 I wrote about the 100th Anniversary (August 2021) of ag aviation on January 10th. One important component of ag aviation. Some Air Tractor 802's may work in various agriculture operations during the off season when they are not on contract as single-engine airtankers (SEATs) flying fires. It seems only fitting that I follow-up the January 10th post by sharing a video about what Single-Engine Airtankers do.

Enjoy this 7-minute video on SEATs from the Texas A&M Forest Fire Service. I may have shared this video before, if so it is worth watching again.

Direct link to video from the Texas A&M Forest Fire Service  on YouTube

Lets look at a SEAT in action

I am in the mood to get in the cockpit with a SEAT pilot. Enjoy this video where you will hear commentary about what is involved in flying a SEAT on a fire. Allow about 11 minutes to watch the video.

Direct link to video

2020-2021 Australia bush fire season: air attack working with bush fire fighters

 Two things have been on my mind recently. One is knowing that we enter into winter here in the United States where wildfire season in California and other western areas never really ends, Australia and New Zealand and other areas south of the equator are in summer. In particular, I have been thinking about Australia and wanting to say that I am hoping that perhaps this bush fire season might not be as bad as last season's horrific bush fire season. I do what I can to try to follow at least the highlights of the Australian bush fire season. 

The second thing on my mind this week has been about the important role that Single Engine Air Tankers play in working wild or bush fires in support of fire fighters on the ground. SEATs are smaller air tankers with an 800 gallon tank.  However, they can work from smaller air strips as long as there are reloading facilities available. In some cases, retardant and/or water-foam reloading my done through portable equipment. They are a very effective tool in the air attack arsenal, especially when they can reload near the fire. 

Just this morning, I was checking out the weekly video highlight page from my friends at the NJFFS Section B10 page when I came across a video, just under six minutes with footage of ground and air attack on a scrub fire on Kangaroo Island in Australia. You will see some SEATs working the fire along with ground crews. This scrub fire started on December 4th and crews were still working the fire on December 5th. Enjoy.

Direct link to video on Youtube

2020 wildfire season: SEAT on initial attack in Wyoming

 Thanks to my friend at the NJFFS Section B10 and their newly redesigned website who now posts fire videos of current interest on their home page (changes daily). Late last week they shared a nice video, just under five minutes of a Single Engine Airtanker (SEAT) flying initial attack on the Brandel wildfire, a smaller wildfire in southeast Wyoming. I was intrigued about the video of this SEAT (T-889) flying initial attack on this fire with great videography that intrigued me, so I knew I had to write about this video. Here are a couple of images from Google Earth to provide a geographic reference.

Actually, there is not much that I can say about this wildfire. The video was uploaded on August 13 over the Brandel Fire which burned 60 miles south east of Casper Wyoming. I did an internet search and *think* I found a short article about the Brandel fire on Oil City News (August 7th) that provided a couple pieces of additional information: the fire started on August 7th and burned 168 acres near Wheatland, WY at the time the article was written. I have no further information on this fire. From watching the video (there are some radio communications), it appears that in addition to T-889, three other SEATS flew initial attack on this fire: T-832, T-862, and T-864. In addition, it appears that two helicopters were working the fire.

If I am correct in reading the credits at the end of the video, T-889 and 832 are based at the Casper (WY) SEAT Base, that is at the Casper/Natrona County International Airport. In addition to hosting a SEAT Base, the airport also hosts a base to support Large Airtankers, see this August 4th Facebook post for more information.

Direct link to video by High Speed Productions on Youtube

About SEATS from a SEAT (Air Tractor) Fire Boss pilot

One of the very great pleasures that I have had over the last few weeks is that I have been doing a great deal of reading, thinking, and reflecting about aerial wildland firefighting. I love learning more about airtankers and helicopters and the pilot's who fly these magnificent aircraft. Enjoy this video from Air Tractor where you will hear Mike Young, Assistant Chief Pilot of Air Spray. At the time this video was produced, Mike was in charge of Air Spray's SEAT operations in Chico, CA.




Direct link to video from Air Tractor on Youtube

Reflections on smaller SEATs Part 2 (300 to 799 gallon tanks)

Over the years, I have come across Thrush aircraft as both Ag Aircraft used for crop dusting and insect control as well as as a SEAT for wildland firefighting, albeit with a tank under 800 gallons. A SEAT such as one of those built by Thrush may be used by state or local agencies during their wildfire season, either under contract or purchased out rightThe Georgia  Forestry Commission purchased two dual cockpit Thrush 510G aircraft with a switchback gate in 2017. The tank or hopper can hold up to 510 gallons. The switchback gate can be easily and quickly converted from firefighting operations to agriculture operations within a matter of minutes. While not something that Georgia will use the switchback configuration will add to the resale value. The benefit of the dual cockpit is that the Thrush can be used for training. See Bill Gabbert's December 2017 Fire Aviation article for more information about Georgia's Thursh 510G aircraft.

Here area two short videos of Georgia's Thrush 501G aircraft.

Direct link to video

Direct link to video

Reflections on smaller SEATs Part 1 (300 to 799 gallon tanks): Downstown

It has been my very great privilege to get to know the folk at Downstown Aero Crop Services out of Vineland New Jersey over the last 9 years or so. Downstown has had contracts with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) since 1967 up to and including 2019. That is forty-two years. As I write this, I am not sure about the status of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service contracts for aerial wildland firefighting for 2020.

With the exception of a visit to Ramona Air Attack Base in 2011, the only tankers that I have met up close and personal have been Downstown's SEATs.

Downstown started using Ag Cats for wildland firefighting under contract with the New Jersey State Forest Fire Service in 1967. When I visited the Air Attack Base in northern New Jersey in 2013, Downstown had some Ag Cats on contract with the NJFFS for the spring 2013 wildfire season, and I would like to show you a couple of photos from that visit. I do love the Ag Cats.

Ag Cats at  the NJ Forest Fire Service Air Attack Base in 2013

Ag Cats at  the NJ Forest Fire Service Air Attack Base in 2013

Since I took these photos in 2013, Downstown no longer uses Ag Cats for aerial wildland firefighting, but they continue to use Air Tractors. Here are a couple of photos of a Downstown Air Tractor 602 that I took in 2012.

Finally here is a short video of one of Downstown's Air Tractors dropping on a wildfire in the Cape May area of New Jersey area in 2013.


Direct link to video

I hope to be writing more reflections about smaller SEATs, stay tuned.

Reflections on SEATs (800 gallon tanks)

I have always had a lot of respect for Single Engine Airtankers (SEATs). Perhaps it is because SEATs were among the first type of tankers that I wrote about when I began this blog eleven years ago. Or perhaps it is because the New Jersey State Forest Fire Service contracts with SEATs for the spring wildfire season.

For this article, I am offering my reflections on SEATs with 800 gallon retardant tanks, many of whom were on some sort of national contract.Then there are the SEATs that are on State contracts. I think that some of these SEATs with 800 gallong tanks are Air Tractor 802F SEATs with the amphibious model being the Air Tractor 802F Fire Boss.

There are a lot of videos out there showing various aspects of SEAT operations in support of the wildland firefighters on the ground and I have shared many on my blog over the years, some more than once. Most of what I know about SEATs are from these videos along with some assorted newspaper and tv reports that I have seen over the years. I have a lot of respect for what the SEATs can do, sometimes I have seen them operate in pairs, bring twice the retardant capability to help the wildland firefighters on the ground. They do not require long landing strips. I suspect, but am not certain that they can operate off of dirt or turf strip if need be.

I know that the little that I know through watching videos and reading some articles only scratches the surface of what these SEATs can do. I applaud these gutsy smaller tankers that have a big heart. Kudos to their pilots and their support team.

Here are two videos for your enjoyment, at least you may have already seen ar least one of these videos on this blog. But reruns are always good.

The first video is from the Lake County Examiner in Oregon, an eight minute video report from the SEAT base with some discussions with SEAT pilots. I enjoyed the discussion of base operations as well as the insights of the SEAT pilots.


Direct link to video on Youtube

The second video is a little over two minutes taken from the cockpit of a SEAT over a  February 2018 wildfire in Texas.


Direct link to video on Youtube