With the Northern Hemisphere experiencing a continuously hot summer this year, a number of Australian helicopter companies deployed their aerial firefighting assets overseas to assist in battling large blazes. McDermott Aviation who regularly deploys a portion of their helicopter fleet overseas once the Southern fire season wraps up has taken its largest number of machines across this season. Ten airframes comprising of four Bell 214ST and six Bell 214B machines equipped with a mix of belly tanks and Bambi buckets have been deployed to Greece where they will assist local fire authorities on firefighting operations. Five airframes were loaded onto a Silkway Boeing 747-400F freighter at Toowoomba Wellcamp airport with more aircraft coming from the company’s USA base in Alabama.
South Australian based operator Aerotec has put two of its three UH-60 Blackhawks which were the first of type on the Australian VH register to work with the Indonesian authorities on fire fighting duties. Flying all the way to the country took seven stops for the crews
