The squadron completed 20 total runs between two crews with the idea of qualifying as many pilots and crewmembers as possible in the shortest amount of time. This is especially challenging since the rotor wash blows the bucket around, and the crew chief has to anticipate not only the movement of the swinging bucket, but also the inherent delay between the time he requests a movement, the pilot moves the controls, and the helicopter responds.” “Since the pilots cannot see either the ‘pumpkin’ water tank or the Bambi bucket, they are relying on the crew chief’s verbal calls to correctly position the helicopter. “Picking water from the ‘pumpkin’ water tank is challenging,” said Mondloch, a HSC-25 pilot and native of Waukesha, Wisc. The exercise, called a “Bambi Bucket Aerial Firefighting” exercise, proved to be a valuable exchange of firefighting efforts with assistance from the actual firefighters on the ground.Īccording to LT Monica Mondloch, the act of hovering a helicopter, in this case a MH-60S “Knighthawk,” over a small water source like a water pumpkin is a precise skill. The squadron used one helicopter to rotate through more than three hours of training, picking up water at a water source (known as a water pumpkin) and delivering it to a remote area of the Fena Reservoir on the Naval Magazine. 20 at Naval Base Guam (NBG)’s Naval Munitions Command (NMC). SANTA RITA, Guam – The “Island Knights” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC)-25, a Navy squadron stationed aboard Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted wildfire firefighting training missions Feb.
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