Black Hawk to aid in Cape firefighting
The locally owned Black Hawk helicopter, capable of carrying a Bambi Bucket with 3 000 litres of water, arrived in Stellenbosch on Saturday to bolster aerial firefighting capabilities in the Western Cape.
MBOMBELA – The locally owned Black Hawk helicopter, capable of carrying a Bambi Bucket with 3 000 litres of water, arrived in Stellenbosch on Saturday to bolster aerial firefighting capabilities in the Western Cape.
Leading Edge Aviation, the owner and operator of the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, made it available to strengthen the aerial firefighting capabilities supplied by the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre, in collaboration with Working on Fire (WOF). It was ferried from Mbombela to Stellenbosch, where it will be stationed for the rest of the Cape fire season.
A world first for the Black Hawk helicopter
The WOF dispatch and coordination team based in Stellenbosch will continue to provide a service to all aerial firefighting aircraft. The WOF command and control spotter aircraft also based there will coordinate and control all commands to the operating Black Hawk. The WOF managing director, Trevor Abrahams, believes this joint venture is an excellent example of teamwork within the firefighting community. “Our goal is to ensure reliable and efficient firefighting resources to firefighting fraternities,” he explained.
Africa’s first Black Hawk to fight blazes in the Lowveld
“The Black Hawk is a valuable addition to the ‘toolbox’ of resources available to an already successful team and will bolster our current aerial fleet of nine fixed-wing command and control spotter planes, eight Huey helicopters and four Air Tractor 802 fixed-wing water bombers,” he said.
