Fighting fire with an Air Crane
Listen now
Description
When wildfires are at their worst, as they have been in recent years, there are few more potent weapons than the giant orange dragonfly that is the Erickson S-64 Air Crane.Erickson bought the manufacturing rights to the S-64 Sky Crane from Sikorsky in 1992, changed the name to Air Crane and has been building, operating and improving the 70-foot-long (21 meter) bus-faced heavy lift helicopter ever since.S-64 pilot and training captain Keith Gill joins Rotor Radio to discuss the unique helicopter’s firefighting superpowers. Flying for Oregon-based Erickson, Gill has followed the fire season around the globe from Australia to Greece to the western U.S. most years for the better part of four decades.
More Episodes
A Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorant and two U.S. Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawks on March 3 rescued more than two dozen fishermen from a sinking ship 130 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lt. Craig Campbell was piloting one of those Jayhawks on what would be his first major rescue mission. He...
Published 03/05/21
Washington, D.C., is covered by some of the most restricted airspace in the world, but that doesn't prevent dozens of government agencies, the military, police, hospitals and other operators from flying helicopters over the U.S. capital. On any given morning, D.C.-area residents running, biking...
Published 12/07/20