Air Attack Over a Fire

One of the things that I am interested in are the roles of aircraft known as Lead Planes and Aerial Supervision Modules (ASM) that fly over many (but not all) fires here in the U.S. And what do the various personnel in these aircraft do. For example, what does the Air Tactical Group Supervisor (airborne firefighter) do? I recently found a short (10 to 11 minute video) from the National Interagency Fire Center called Firefighting Airspace, a part of their 2012 Annual Wildland Fire Refresher training. I certainly learned a lot from this video, and I hope that you will as well. The next time I read about or hear of a fire with a Lead Plane and/or an ASM over the fire I will have a better idea of the roles of these aircraft. Enjoy.



direct link to video from the BLMNIFC on youtube

Updated July 21, 2014: I share a lot of videos on this blog, sometimes I forget that I have already shared a video and I share the video a second time. That is what happened here. I originally shared this same video on Dec. 1, 2012.

Fire Traffic Areas explained

The graphic above shows what is known as a Fire Traffic Area (FTA). It differs from temporary flight restrictions in that an FTA is not a part of the National Airspace System. However, it does serve a vital function in keeping fire fighting aircraft safe as they do their business. 

The fire traffic area was designed and implemented after the 2001 mid-air collision of tankers 92 and 87 near Ukiah CA in order to provide a safe working environment for aircraft working a fire. A typical fire traffic area is five nautical mile (nm) radius from the fire. Different types of aircraft working a fire are assigned altitudes based on their functions at the time. Aircraft are expected to maintain the altitude separations expressed in this graphic. The two most important aspects of the fire traffic area are communications and discipline.

The air tactical group supervisor (ATGS) circles with right turns at approximately 2,500 feet above ground level. What does the ATGS do? The 2009 Interagency Aerial Supervision Guide (NFES 2544, p. 3) provides an answer:

The ATGS manages incident airspace and controls incident air traffic. The ATGS is an airborne firefighter who coordinates, assigns, and evaluates the use of aerial resources in support of incident objectives. The ATGS is the link between ground personnel and incident aircraft. The ATGS must collaborate with ground personnel to develop and implement tactical and logistical missions on an incident. The ATGS must also work with dispatch staff to coordinate the ordering, assignment, and release of incident aircraft in accordance with the needs of fire management and incident command personnel.

Before tankers enter the fire traffic area they orbit at the initial contact ring at 12 nautical miles. Here the pilot communicates, and only after getting clearance does the tanker enter the fire traffic area. If the pilot is unable to establish communications, they hold at the 7 nautical mile NOCOM ring, with left turns, until they are established.

Ok, looking at the bottom of the FTA in the graphic, the helicopters are maneuvering at approximately 500 feet above ground level. The tanker maneuvering altitude where they circle to line up and prepare for the actual drop is at 1,000 ft AGL. Five hundred above, at 1,500 ft AGL, is the altitude at which tankers enter the FTA, maintaining a left turn orbit until it is their turn to enter the tanker maneuvering altitude.

More information on fire traffic areas may be found in this power point presentation. If you look at this power point presentation, you will see that for larger fires temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) may have bigger dimensions than the FTA. In situations such as these, initial points (IP's) will be used on transition routes into and away from the fire. As I understand the tanker pilot will make radio contact at the IP which is usually an easy to identify landmark such as a lake or a bridge.

One of my air tanker pilot friends sums up fire traffic areas this way:

The FTA works great, and is one of the best innovations I have witnessed in aerial fire fighting.

Fly clear of wildfires

Upcoming: Temporary Flight Restrictions and Fire Traffic Areas

As I was watching some live news helo feed of the Station Fire on the internet in late August and early September I realized, with the help of some of my air tanker pilot friends, that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to keep air tankers and helicopters safe as they work wildland fires. In addition there are issues that are directly correlated with making effective retardant or water/foam drops: proper drop height and speed, retardant coverage levels, and the like. Finally, there are factors that come into to play to determine how much weight (including retardant and water) that an aircraft can safely carry. I thought that I'd spend some time writing about these issues, and others that I may not have thought of yet. I have written about some already: such as fire traffic areas, making effective retardant drops, and retardant coverage levels. I may have mentioned some only in passing, so to speak. All bear repeating and further elaboration.

I was going to start by writing about something known as fire traffic areas (FTAs) in the air space immediately above and surrounding wildland fires. Briefly,

"The FTA was developed by aerial firefighting personnel to provide a standardized initial attack airspace structure to enhance air traffic separation over wildfire (or all risk) incidents. ... The structure emphasizes established communications, received and understood clearances, and compliance with the clearances. The intent is that an aircraft will NOT enter the FTA until it receives a clearance. Interagency Airspace Coordination Guide (2003), Chapter 7, Airspace Deconfliction, pages 7-6 to 7-7)"

As I was thinking about writing about FTAs, I decided that I should start with writing about Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) and Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs). I am going to write at least four articles on TFRs beginning in a day or two. Then I will write about FTAs. After I finish with TFRs and FTAs I will write about the other issues that I mentioned in the first paragraph.

In my first article on TFRs, I will talk about the different kinds of Notices to Airmen (NOTAM), of which a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is just one type of NOTAM. Stay tuned.

I found the above image, from the Florida Div. of Forestry, on the Interagency Airspace Coodination website, along with a couple of other airspace safety posters.