Helicopter 301

UH-1H SUPER HUEY HELICOPTER

MANUFACTURER
Bell Helicopters, Fort Worth, Texas.

ORIGINAL OWNER

U.S. Army, 1963 to 1975. The UH-1H was used as a troop and cargo transport and specialized operations.

ACQUIRED BY CDF

In 1981, CDF acquired 12 helicopters from the Department of Defense. They were heavily modified by

CDF for fire fighting use and went into service in 1989. CDF has 9 helicopters available statewide for

the 2005 Fire Season with two spares available from CDF's Aviation Management Unit in Sacramento to fill in behind scheduled maintenance.

MISSION

CDF uses the Super Hueys for fast initial attack on wildfires. The copters are able to quickly deliver a nine personfire crew wherever needed as well as battle fires with water/foam drops.  The copters are also used for medical evacuations, backfiring operations, to ignite prescribed burns using either a helitorchor a ping-pong ball machine - Chemical Ignition Device System (CIDS), cargo transport (internal and external loads), re-seeding operations, infra-red mapping of incidents, and numerous non-fire emergency missions.  CDF helicopter crews are trained for "short haul" rescues. A short haul involves acrew member being lowered from a hovering helicopter to an injured or trapped person below. Once hookedto a harness or stokes basket, both the victim and crew member are then carried a short distance to safety.

CREW

One pilot, two fire captains, and eight firefighters.

PAYLOAD

Bucket operations - 324 gallons of water/foam.

Fixed tank - 360 gallons of water/foam with pilot controlled drop volumes.

SPECIFICATIONS

GROSS WEIGHT: 10,500 pounds

CRUISE SPEED: 126 mph

RANGE: 250 miles

ENDURANCE: 2 hours

ROTOR DIAMETER: 48 feet

ENGINES: Turbine Lycoming T-53-703 derated from 1800 horsepower.