One of our readers whose company has been providing helicopters on the previous contracts has some opinions about the changes the Forest Service is pushing. Wont the guaranteed hours for a contract be a exclusive use. The Blackhawk wont work because they are restricted category. All water tenders and engine types 3 through 6 shall be able to prime and pump water from a 10 foot lift. Pratt & Whitney Engine Maintenance. Regardless of how many aircraft are available it is how to use them in a timely manner, not a 1000 mile ferry two days later. For the 2018 season, the UFS had at its disposal, in addition to its planes, 105 helicopters under exclusive contracts and about 200 others under CWN agreements. Why is it presented as CWN when it looks like E.U? Farm planes that can carry a ton of retardant to the Boeing 747 Supertanker and 75 tons of load, anything that can drop on a fire was mobilized to fight monsters like the fire of the Mendocino Complex that devoured more than 150 000 ha in a month and a half. Guess what those choppers wont have cockpit cameras or loudspeakers or TAS. Your last sentence is the the nail in the coffin.seeing as that this contract will be LPTA and a year to year option, how do you finance a new a/c that will surely be $2-$4M on the low end? Cargo Ordering - How To, BLM Hows about an STC for personal electronic devices, only available from one company, nobody else in the industry even knows what the hell the STC is or is for! If the income is lower and lower due to LPTA and the job security is year to year with no guarantee, most lenders will tell you to try another bank to mortgage your house. Forest Service Fire and Aviation Qualifications Guide (FSFAQG) Federal Wildland Fire Qualifications Supplement. National Air Attack Exclusive Use Aircraft ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Typos or errors, report them HERE. LockA locked padlock They requested to remain anonymous in order to avoid retribution from the agency. Candidates include the Bell 429, Airbus/Eurocopter H135 or H145 or other light twins on the market. CO Support on all major contract programs (Mobile Food Services, Mobile Showers, Type 2 & 2-IA Crews, Retardant Chemicals), Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) Alternate Focal Point I do not know of any small operators who can afford to buy new ships, if any are even available. So given these facts, what do you think they are trying to achieve in ultimately reducing the number of a/c in a time when we need more of them? You FS boys need to stop trying to blame the messenger and take the feedback from industry to heart. Without a federal contract, we cant get carded and without cards, we cant work for the state. In other locations they would just shrug their shoulders and walk away. We all understand that. %PDF-1.4 % Office: (208) 387-5665 Mobile: (208) 616-5549, NIFC Operations Support agency that, more and more, is becoming its own worst enemy, as well as ours! 545 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<699CE8B7B060C148BAB896A267C961CC>]/Index[527 27]/Info 526 0 R/Length 94/Prev 249949/Root 528 0 R/Size 554/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream The question and answer document shows the USFS is unwilling to be understanding its our way or the highway, thanks for nothing. For point-to-point flights, AFF flight following may be used as well. 0000001330 00000 n The A-10 is built to be highly survivable and can takeoff and land in locations near the front lines. If helicopters are widely used in the USA to fight forest fires, they can also be used to burn them. Thank youfor taking the time to tell us how we're doing! NIFC Operations (Photographer/Videographer Services), Chris Kirk,Purchasing Agent Anyone who served in the military knows that Uncle Sam Air is the most inefficient airline in the world, and having worked there is in no way a guarantee that you are the best subject matter expert on anything. These publications are "specified by more than 47 state departments of transportation," and is "the only privately researched and published equipment rate guide approved by the Federal Highway Administration for use on federally-funded construction projects." Category 3 includes the lightest helicopters with the lowest payload. The blackhawk will not replace the 212 because it cant, and a regular category S-70 would have to bid three or four times the price of a 212 to make financial sense even if you could get a 4 year EU contract. Why are only Types III and II legacy helicopters being phased out? Well said Maghreb.sadly, doing so would guarantee financial disaster/bankruptcy for the industry while also ensuring that the country and its citizens in fire prone states would be without helos for many more years than just one season.I do love the idea as it would send a message for suremaybe a few calls to the White House make sense here? Melinda Draper, Associate Branch Chief, Logistics, Horsepower rating taken at the flywheel with all the engine accessories installed not counting transmission losses or anything after the flywheel. The Logistics Branch provides support for WO Fire & Aviation Operations customers (located at NIFC) with the procurement of (urgent/immediate)incidentresources, such as retardant chemicals and related services, mobile food services, mobile shower facilities, firefighting crews, Critical Incident Stress Management Services (CISM) and National Videographer/Photographer Services. The USFS did not get the number of LATs they assumed they would, I know it shocked them. On May 9 the agency released a list of 14 helicopters for the >1,600 tier. The NWCGcategorizes information on fire apparatus into logical groups and provides common options often requested by fire managers. For example they get 4 hours of flight pay whether they fly 0 or 3.8. We really love being on Team USFS. National Exclusive Use SEAT SOP, Implementation Topping the list is Tennessee, with New Jersey and Hawaii close behind in second and third. If it aint broke, dont try to fix it. Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. Let the operators upgrade when if/it will work. Smaller helicopters carry water in buckets that hold between 100-400 gallons of water. On the CWN list, Aero Flite went from four to one aircraft and Coulson dropped their L-382G and substituted a B-737 which began working in North America for the first time last week. Official websites use .gov <<0B6C55EEACE9564A8C1EB025C5E90DF9>]>> I can see daily availability rates sky rocketing, which it sounds like is expected. FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT POLICY & DOCTRINE OVERVIEW CHAPTER 1 Release Date: January 2020 1 1 Chapter 1 2 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and Doctrine 3 Overview 4 Scope 5 The Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations states, 6 references, or supplements policy for Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest 7 Service, U.S. Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs) for 28 - Type 1 helicopters having 120-day mandatory availability periods. Rotating blades are also present and again play a discrete but essential role where their natural qualities are exploited at best. Nevertheless, the aviation branch of the US Forest Service is often seen as a versatile administration, without any long-term vision, with abrupt and sometimes difficult to understand decisions and against which innumerable legal proceedings and even lawsuits are brought by its subcontractors and those who are in line to become one. One has to write to the audience who butters their bread!. What do you do with an expensive asset like a helo when youre only customer suggests to just not submit? Aerial Supervision Module (ASM) Lead Planes - IR Scanner Orders, Sunrise/Sunset They never seem to be logical ! As for air assets, Tankers dominate the sky. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park . Its coming, and sooner than you expect. Large Jet Transport Maybe in talking to a 3rd party lender the FS would learn more about these challenges that industry is facing due to the well intended, but poorly delivered solicitation requirements? However, the decision to adopt and utilize them is made independently by the individual member agencies and communicated through their respective directives systems. 310-1 Wildland Fire Qualification System Guide. The table below shows NWCG minimum performance requirements for water tenders. The reason your seeing all the blackhawk bucket ships is because you can buy a milsurp bird for less than 2$ million and be flying on a fire for less than 5. Personnel shall meet the qualification requirements of. T able 2- LAT and . Under contract this season there are 28 heavyweights, including Kaman KMax, CH-46, CH-47, S-70, CH-54 and S-61 from a dozen companies. The difference is there are very few air tankers compared to helicopters on EU and CWN contracts. Each rate covers all costs eligible under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. National Maintenance Agreement, Robert Hoffman,Contracting Officer For operators, the Grail is a contract with the US Forest Service. It doesnt matter what we say if we dont pay the price , the US Forest service only go and hire the Canadians to do our job. 0000005493 00000 n There are still going to be normal cwn helicopters. 0000009662 00000 n Flight Following (AFF), FlightAware All the experienced aviation folks leading the latest helo RFP need to know that what youre proposing will lead to less a/c and more accidents/deaths. to Air Missions (NOTAMS), Para Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) Focal Point, Mike McFarlane,Contracting Officer A minimum of 100 gallons of extinguishing products, water or retardant, must be able to be conveyed by these machines. w/ R1 Supplements, Notice Great to see that ole S-58T N1168U workhorse from Aris is still getting after it! If as you suggest they can choose to not submit a proposal then two things are going to happen: 1) that aircraft will not be part of the AFF fleet next year and 2) you will have less a/c in the future b/c of it. Rotating wing aircraft have a special place in the fire-fighting system. Aviation Management, NPS Thats discouraging as it suggests that the customer really isnt listening and just providing the perception of doing so.your point of just not choosing to submit if an operator doesnt like it is incredibly insensitive and uninformed. Id guess many of them follow your websites, but if not and you have access to them, it would be good to alert them to the commentary here on this pageif anyone else feels strongly negative about this, chime in!! AMS Mission Codes. Firewatch Cobra (Bell 209-AH-1) Aerial Supervision Helicopter What can replicate the performance of a UH-1H with a -703 as a bucket bird? That is just a single hour shy of six. They are usually contracted for 5 years. What do you do with an expensive asset like a helo when youre only customer suggests to just not submit? Must be annually certified by the local host unit agency administrator or designee prior to being made available for assignment. AMD-23E v2.0. Call-When-Needed (CWN) Airtankers 2.1 NIFC is home to the national fire management programs of each federal fire agency, along with partners including the National Association of State Foresters, the U.S. Fire Administration, and the National Weather Service. GPS Visualizer - Convert Coordinates. With the twin engine requirement would a K-Max also be DQd? Just need to add, Mama told me the customer is always right. trailer The ICP may be co-located with the incident base or other incident facilities and provides certain essential auxiliary forms of support, such as food, sleeping areas, equipment, trailers,and sanitation. National Interagency Fire Center Additional current information can be accessed on the Interagency Fire UAS Operations website. Very well stated on what most of us are thinking and in the same boat. while simultaneously saying that they fully intend on moving to modern helicopters that are built after the year 2000 and are all twin engine. This second list was released by the agency May 13 and is a result of a solicitation requesting bidsfor 30 helicopters that were already on Call When Needed contracts in three tiers capable of lifting up to 1,600, 3,300, or 7,000 pounds. Why arent fixed wing on CWN awarded a offered daily minimum? "Today is a day of zeros, zero rate of spread, zero flame length, zero probability of ignition and zero fire growth." . A quick peruse through that Q&A shows that dozens of operators really gasped when this RFP came out. Bill wrote 3 sentences without even putting his opinion in, the overwhelming response is that the only people happy or satisfied with this RFP are the people who wrote it. If the income is lower and lower due to LPTA and the job security is year to year with no guarantee, most lenders will tell you to try another house to mortgage your house. Comments, questions, and recommendations shall be submitted to the appropriate agency representative assigned to the steward for each resource. MSH confirms additional launch customer in Norway. So do we get balanced journalism here. Columbia sold to another company last year and with the combined ammount of aircraft they are considered a large company. The agreements and contracts you are about to view have been established for government aviation users whose agencies have formal agreements with DOI, Interior Business Center, Acquisitions Services Directorate (AQD) and are authorized to order services from those agreements and contracts. Although I dont know if this counts as a legacy platform. They will tell you they have their smerfs.SMEs ( who typically are cradle to grave beuracrats as well), who are supposedly dialed in on the subject matter surerightlmao Maybe the PM, HS and the CO should talk to some a/c financing companies to better understand the reality of upgrading or buying new equipment. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Coordinator For several years now, the AirCrane are clearly competing with the massive arrival of CH-47D obtained by some companies on top of the US forces. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Guide to customs clearance for a Helvetian aircraft, Bell unveils industrialists on the Invictus program. They should change their contract terms should change if theyre forcing companies to buy X aircrafts. Personnel and Equipment: 219 total personnel; 2 helicopters, 14 Type-6 engines, 13 Type-2 tractor plow units, 1 drone, . Helicopter Rental Rates Helicopter Rental Rates 2023.docx/Jaz F (Prot) Page 1 February 2023 Operator Information Company Name: Address: Day Phone #: Taxpayer Identification #: . Office: (208) 387-5695 Mobile: (208) 860-7334 You guys (and gals) should possess enough experience to influence how contracts are conceptualized, and bring some common sense back to the process, Nobody should bid, then when everything is on fire and the USFS comes begging then youd have some leverage on them.. National Interagency Aviation Committee Publication Library, BLM Your last sentence in the nail in the coffin.seeing as that this contract will be LPTA and a year to year option, how do you finance a new a/c that will surely be $2-$4M on the low end? xref Of course, the US Forest Service is not the only organization to have helicopter water bombers. For example, the 2017 average daily rate for large federal call when needed air tankers was 54 percent higher than aircraft on exclusive . SD3-60 Sherpa Avionics Upgrade, Dave Hershey, Contracting Officer Once we get all of that figured out, turns out that the increase in performance specifications at 7,000 / 30C combined with the added equipment pretty much eliminates legacy ships from meeting performance requirements. hb```, cb YL Steve Peterson, Contracting Officer National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) Support Add to this that they are wanting us to throw all of this money into our aircraft to get on the contract (which is now a 10 year contract!) CWN Helicopter Procurement Comparison NOTE: The procurement (USFS or DOI) is determined by which agency has jurisdiction over the fire, project or lands. 527 0 obj <> endobj Helicopters also deliver firefighting crews called helitack crews to fires for initial attack. These standards assign typing designations based on measurable capability and performance criteria. All perpetuated by the Gov. Fire Cacheis asupply of fire tools and equipment assembled in planned quantities or standard units at a strategic point for exclusive use in fire suppression. Us | Site All types shall meet federal, state and agency requirements for motor vehicle safety standards, including all gross vehicle weight ratings when fully loaded. National Interagency Aviation Committee (, Incident and Position Standards Committee (. Office: (208) 387-5610 Mobile: (208) 867-5073, Tonya Campbell,Contracting Officer Oh, and dont glance over the cockpit camera, which they want even on restricted category bucket ships. Helicopters with buckets can pull water from water sources that are deep enough for the buckets. Type 3 Helicopters Although Type 3 helicopters are smaller, they have a higher cruise speed than a typical Type 2 helicopter and can arrive on the scene of an initial attack wildfire faster. Welcome to the Nation's Logistical Support Center | National . What light twin replaces a 407? The FS would gladly issue multi-year contracts (vs. base year + options). As such, it is necessary for forest teams to rely on natural protection or retarding barriers to avoid losing control of the fire, which is potentially a huge risk. 0 Thats discouraging as it suggests that the customer really isnt listening and just providing the perception of doing so.your point of just not choosing to submit if an operator doesnt like it is incredibly insensitive and uninformed. There are certainly concerns with moving to a twin engine platform related to performance, and Im not currently versed enough in all of the platforms to have an opinion, but I do know that this article doesnt address it and instead seems to be a sounding board for industry without presenting the case for increased firefighter safety and performance in modern aircraft. 0 Hawaii beats the national average by 4.2%, and Tennessee furthers that trend with another $4,165 (5.9%) above the $71,117. Maybe in talking to a 3rd party lender the FS would learn more about these challenges that industry is facing due to the well intended, but poorly delivered solicitation requirements? They may also be federal agencies such as Indian Affairs or the Bureau of Land Management, who are responsible for natural areas that must be fought against forest fires. 0000047400 00000 n The what, why and where of this story seems like it warrants additional reporting. The U.S. Forest Service, the agency responsible for awarding federal contracts for large air tankers and firefighting helicopters, is proposing a number of very significant changes to the helicopter contracts. Several vendors opted for EU contracts with states instead of the USFS. The Forest Service was looking for 10 helicopters in each tier, if available, with Mandatory Availability Periods commencing on either June 1stor June 15th. Office: (208) 387-5835 Mobile: (208) 407-6002 There is obviously some back door dealing going on with this RFP as it very specifically pushes money to certain equipment providers and tips the hat to certain helicopter companies. 0000006627 00000 n They are capable of carrying four to five firefighters at a time, and use a 180 gallon water bucket. The USFS, forestry branch of the Ministry of Agriculture, is in charge of the protection of the largest natural areas, it is also the body that is officially in charge of this function at the national level.
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