Aerial work operators attend the US Forest Service session at the 2024 Aerial Work Safety Conference in Boise, Idaho. Photos by VAI/Dan Sweet. VAI’s 2024 Aerial Work Safety Conference features USFS briefing Q&A panels with the FAA and US Forest Service highlight the 3-day event for aerial work operators in Boise, Idaho. A US Forest Service (USFS) briefing and Q & A session engaged firefighting helicopter operators attending VAI’s Aerial Work Safety Conference (AWSC) at the Boise Centre in Idaho. The briefing was the highlight of the final day’s sessions. Left to right, presenters David Gomez, Beau Dobberstein, Megan Heffentrager, Josh Haney, Lori Clark, Rob Van Horn, and Matt Olson at the 2024 VAI Aerial Work Safety Conference in Boise, Idaho. Held every fall, the event has traditionally focused on the aerial firefighting sector and has featured presentations from representatives of the USFS, which has National Interagency Firefighting Center (NIFC) and National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) offices in Boise. This allowed representatives of firefighting companies to review the past fire season, learn about USFS contract changes, and hold in-person meetings with USFS contracting teams. Four years ago, VAI expanded the conference to include multiple elements of aerial work. USFS Sets Priorities for 2025 David Gomez, USFS national helicopter program manager (shown at right), opened the panel discussion with an examination of the priorities for the coming year and a review of statistics from the past year’s fire season. The priorities include modernizing the helicopter contract fleet, examining exclusive use crew staffing and program management staffing capacities, and enhancing their current ability to track aviation resources, according to Gomez. During the statistical review, he shared that the Type I, II, and III helicopter fleets combined to fly more than 34,500 flight hours, dropped nearly 10 million gal. of water or fire retardant, and carried over 51,000 passengers around fire lines throughout the United States. In the second session of the USFS presentation, Megan Heffentrager, national aircraft coordinator, spoke on coordination and order processing for aerial assets, particularly for call-when-needed (CWN) contracts. She shared that when a service request arrives in Boise, the contracting office assigns a CWN aircraft based on payload category, helicopter configuration, helicopter location (related to the job), contracted aircraft price, and the project’s location and urgency. Heffentrager also discussed how the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC) establishes preparedness priority levels, with PL1 the lowest category and PL5 the highest. Generally, the PL1 preparedness level indicates that fires or other projects are addressed with local assets, and PL5 means national resources are committed throughout the nation. Carding Updates Rob Van Horn, USFS aviation safety inspector, airworthiness, led the third session of the morning, focusing on “carding,” or the preseason qualification of contracted aircraft, pilots, maintenance personnel, and fuel trucks. Van Horn explained that the USFS plans to hold carding events at two locations in December 2024 and May 2025. He discussed a new feature, as USFS introduced electronic file folders this year, allowing companies to upload necessary documentation before carding inspections. He also requested that vendors hold the inspectors accountable, stating that the inspectors should always leave with their compliance card or a contract status form. Van Horn concluded his presentation with a warning that most discrepancies the USFS was finding involved the carding process for fuel trucks and maintenance personnel. Safety Statistics Lori Clark, USFS branch chief, aviation safety, and Josh Haney, quality and safety management coordinator for the US Department of the Interior (DOI), focused on safety statistics during the past fire season in the fourth morning session. Clark began by stating that long-term historical trends continue to decrease. However, after several years with zero accidents, the 10-year accident trend is starting to increase again. In studying statistics from the past fire season, Clark presented that the top three hazards included fatigue/crew endurance, airspace intrusion/conflicts, and policy deviation, such as exceeding flight times, duty days, break schedules, or fuel reserve levels. Haney and Clark concluded with a most-wanted list for 2025, indicating that the USFS and the DOI would focus on reducing fatigue while increasing awareness about crew resource management (CRM) and airspace management. Haney wrapped up the final morning session by reviewing USFS and DOI requirements for safety management system programs for aviation contractors. Q&A Session Following the individual presentations, the panelists and other USFS employees gathered to take questions from attendees. Participants included: David Gomez, USFS national helicopter program manager Beau Dobberstein, USFS rotor-wing branch chief Megan Heffentrager, USFS national aircraft coordinator Josh Haney, DOI quality and safety management coordinator Lori Clark, USFS branch chief, aviation safety Rob Van Horn, USFS aviation safety inspector, airworthiness Matt Olson, USFS contracting officer, aviation Audience members in the session spent about 30 minutes asking about carding and contracting, as well as asking questions about adding aircraft to the firefighting fleet before the next contract takes place, and discussing conflicts with safety bulletins versus regulations. Two Post-Lunch Sessions After lunch, Francois Magnan, customer manager, aftermarket (shown at right), offered a presentation on elastomeric bearing maintenance for Parker Lord. Elastomeric components are now routinely used on many modern helicopters. While they offer improvements in performance and increases in reliability, they are not always well understood by maintenance personnel and pilots. This session explained the construction, function, maintenance, and inspection of these various types of components. The program’s final session featured an examination of why helicopter pilots continue to strike power lines, led by Eric Pacheco, senior pilot with the Los Angeles County (California) Fire Department. Pacheco encouraged pilots to stay “on the clock,” maintaining awareness of where wires are at all times, even encouraging the repetitive use of mantras like, “Where da wires at?” Pacheco also reviewed different types of vision and how pilots can use the abilities of the human eye to reduce threats in the wire environment. He reinforced the value of high-altitude reconnaissance checks, encouraging a second check while recommending that passengers also assist with the check. Zac Noble, VAI director of flight operations and maintenance, closed AWSC 2024, stating that VAI holds the event for the benefit of the attendees. “We do this for you, so let us know what else you’d like to see here.” Noble also thanked the FAA, the USFS, and the presenters, noting, “We couldn’t do this without you.”
