When I got interested in the current wildfire season in Chile, thanks to Mike Archer's reporting on wildfires around the world in his Wildfire News of the Day emails (go here to subscribe), I knew from Coulson's Facebook page and Bill Gabbert's Dec 13, 2020 article that Coulson Aviation had aircraft under contract in Chile. I wondered about other firefighting aircraft that might be working in Chile. From reading some news reports of wildfires in Chile, I think but am not certain that SEATs and smaller helicopters fly fires in Chile in support of firefighters on the ground. Unfortunately, the best link that I had is no longer active, so I am not in a position to say anything substantial about other aircraft that might be flying fires in Chile. But I do know that Coulson is in Chile so I will focus on Coulson's operations in Chile here.
I was recently in contact with someone from Coulson who confirmed to me that Coulson has four CH47D Chinook helitankers and one UH60 Blackhawk currently under contract in Chile (for more information on these helitankers see Coulson-Unical and Coulson's Facebook page. I wrote about Coulson's CH47 helitankers and Blackhawks in May 2020, sharing a nice 2019 video where Britt Coulson discusses these helitankers and a link to an article in Vertical Magazine about the Chinook. Shortly after my recent correspondence with Coulson, I saw this February 9th news release from Coulson with more information about their operations in Chile. I also understand both from my correspondent from Coulson and the aforementioned news release that night operations in Chile will be conducted this year. I am sure that these night operations, even if under a trial period, will be an important weapon in Coulson's aerial firefighting arsenal in Chile.
When I was perusing the Coulson Aviation in Australia webpage yesterday, I saw a video report shared on their Youtube Channel from an Australian news outlet on a trial conducted in Australia last year to test Coulson's night aerial fire suppression capabilities. The report is not talking about operations in Australia, they make no mention of Chile, I do not know the result of this trial, and I am not certain which of Coulson's helitankers and/or Blackhawks have the necessary night flying technology installed. However, with those caveats in mind. this report gave me an idea about how Coulson's night aerial fire suppression operations might work. Enjoy!
(updated and corrected on February 11, 2021) I want to thank my correspondent at Coulson Aviation for taking the time to provide me with some corrections regarding Coulson's night aerial fire suppression operations. Coulson has been doing night aerial fire suppression operations in California for awhile now, most recently in 2020 using Chinooks. About four or five years ago Coulson did a trial using night vision goggles in Victoria, Australia. That trial was successful and since then, Coulson has been using Sikorsky's for night aerial fire suppression operations in and around Victoria, Australia. This will be the first year that night vision goggles will be used by Coulson in Chile. When I was perusing the Coulson Aviation in Australia webpage yesterday, I saw a video report shared by Coulson on their Youtube Channel about the night vision goggle trial in Victoria Australia that was done four or five years ago . This video report gave me an idea of how Coulson's night aerial fire suppression operations work in Chile.
