Overberg Allo & SAAF Oryx fire bombing pics

[Snapshot]

Hi all,
have been working with some great crews last week with the usual
fires in SA at this time of year!

This series is a fire in Hermanus, Western Cape (famous for the whales)!
It features the Overberg Disaster Management, Fire Dept, Allouette, Huey and SAAF Oryx!
The fire burnt for 6 days after a farm worker found a pencil flare and
fired it at a baboon! The outcome was obvious!

Anyway, below are a few pics and click here (http://www.avcollect.com/hermanus/fire/index.html) to many more!


Trust you like? All comments welcome
Andrew Brooks

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Allo ZS-RJW flown by John Eccles


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SAAF Oryx Flown by JJ O'C


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SAAF Oryx ferrying Fire Teams up and down Mountain, Hermanus in back ground


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Status check on fire on Tuesday (Hermanus in back ground)


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A Fire Team egress the mountain in the Oryx


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Water collection from the lagoon! Vick Rademan (Overberg TFDC) in the orange and yours truly out the side taking pics :eek:


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BAMBI submerged into the lagoon


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Check the firemen/women in this sequence, especially No2, 3 and 4! Yellow helmet! Wipe out!!
Having said that, im sure it was welcome down there as the days were very warm!


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SAAF Oryx crew doing a lekker job!


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This is what we were battling with! A pretty picture with serious consequences!

AB

[206Fan]

Cracking shots andrew..:ok:

Always wondered why the african puma is called the oryx? The oryx antelope springs to mind!

[unstable load]

Right in one try, Davy07!

Most purpose built SA military vehicles are given an animal designation of some form or another.

The Oryx is a locally built conversion of a J model (I think) airframe to Super Puma running gear and NVG compatable cockpit. The guys that operate them have a lot of respect for them.

[Pandalet]

Those are some stunning pictures! Thank you for sharing :D

Always nice to see the old home-town, too - I grew up in Hermanus.

[Snapshot]

Thank you all for your comments, means a lot!
AB

[Blackhawk9]

Great shots Snapshot!

Unstable load, I think you will find the Oryx IS a Super Puma made to look like a 330, the story goes that 50 AS332C fuselage and tail booms were smuggled thru Portugal in the apartheid days then assembled in South Africa with 330 canopies and undercarriage so as they would not standout to the world as Super Pumas, they operate at Super Puma gross weights in flight and on hook for sling loads but because of 330 main gear gross weight on ground is less than the 8600kg if they ran Super Puma undercarriage.

Portugal supposedly got their 330 Pumas upgraded for free to 330+ with Makilas for allowing the 332 airframes to slip thru Portugal to SA.

[R.OCKAPE]

sequence 2,3 and 4
that pilot should not be allowed to operate on a fire ground if he has such complete disregard for the safety of the ground crews.

Being slammed with 2 or 3 tons of water is no joke.

[unstable load]

Blackhawk9,
Thanks for the correction. I never knew that bit about them.:ok:

[R.OCKAPE]

thanks for the explanation snap shot..
not quite what I was asking though

[Taxidriver009]

Shots 2,3 and 4:

Looking at the "massive" flames on the fireline and the water drop, this is propably a "high speed, higher altitude" run, cooling the firecrew and vegetation.
Much appreciated on the ground me thinks?:D

[victor papa]

Another shot of the "new" Alo doing the business on the same fire. Guess Silvercross do more than tours only then as advertised here on various places?



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[unstable load]

Funny looking Alo, that...:hmm:

[victor papa]

unstable load, the "new" was written as such as in some parts of the world the squirrel is referred to as the "new" Alo. Guess the 130 even closer in some ways as it has the canopy but then not the tail.

[Mac the Knife]

Working On Fire and these guys do a brilliant job.

The winds round the mountain can be brutal and it's quite a treat to see them queuing up to dip from the (surrounded by trees in built up area) reservoir near my house.

Very skillful flying.

Respects guys

:ok:

[Snapshot]

Can confirm that pic was NOT taken during our fire here in Hermanus!
All water bombing was Allouette ZS-RJW and the SAAF Oryx! We had a Huey
for the afternoon as we waited to see what the fire would do in the gorge but it was called away for another fire and wasnt used!
AB

[organ donor]

Great photo's there Snapshot, sorry for the WOF guy that got wet:eek:
Ja, all the Working on fire Hueys were flat out on the big fire in Stellenbosch, and the Squirrel came to help out there, it was nice to see a different helicopter on the fire line for once:ok:

[victor papa]

organ donor, the Squirrel has been busy yesterday all day on the Lourensford side and left already again so it seems you might continue to see something other than the Huey, Oryx and MI's. ;)

Just hope they get the fires under control before the south easterly starts it's revenge for not having a change to blow us away the last couple of days as the north westerly took it's glory. The WOF and all the ground crew guys must be exhausted by now:D

[The Claw]

Unstable load, I think you will find the Oryx IS a Super Puma made to look like a 330, the story goes that 50 AS332C fuselage and tail booms were smuggled thru Portugal in the apartheid days then assembled in South Africa with 330 canopies and undercarriage so as they would not standout to the world as Super Pumas, they operate at Super Puma gross weights in flight and on hook for sling loads but because of 330 main gear gross weight on ground is less than the 8600kg if they ran Super Puma undercarriage.


Not quite, Portugal had nothing to do with the fuselage, they helped with the engines and upgrade kit. The reason for the SA330 fuselage is quite simply because IAR Romania only produced the SA330 fuselage.

[Snapshot]

Well this is the kind of environment they're working in!
Got two middle pages of Hermanus Times today to pay tribute
to the fire boys n gals! I'm glad I have played a small
role in getting them some well deserved recognition!

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http://www.avcollect.com/hermanus/fire/images/IMG_5110a.jpg
John Eccles in Allo ZS-RJW drops another 600 litres onto the fire line!
John did 111 sorties during the fire, most on Friday! A total of approx 66,000 litres from the Allo


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Grootvadersbos Fire Team
In front: Deslinn Roberts, Bella Liebenberg, Lintoor Thyse, Margaretta September, Justin Petersen, Ivor Davids
Back: Denver Gelderblom, Kirshwell Arendse, Gavin Pretorius, Peter-John Hine


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Deswyn Valetyn from Robertson Fire Dept

Love how proud this guy is!
Apologies as this isn't really aviation but Fires and Fire Teams are big in the news right now!
So I would like to publish these on here!

Snaps

[Snapshot]

Although this cannot be compared to the disaster in Oz
Have some figures on the cost of this little amble!
One act of not thinking........

TOTAL COST R445,200.00

Helicopter hours flown : +/- 28 hours Cost R380,000
Man hours 360 (Teams) Cost R25,200
Firemen/Women: 280 man hours Cost 30,000
Other costs: Vehicles etc R10,000

Highest number of Firefighters deployed: 57 (Monday)
25 - 30 firefighters deployed everyday on foot and via helicopter

Water Used:
Dropped: Oryx 42 sorties = 84,000 litres :D
Allouette 111 sorties = 66, 000 litres :D
Water use by fire engines = 32,000 litres :D

No lives were lost but there were some near serious incidents!
From Monday night onwards teams were deployed in the mountain 24/7
surviving on little sleep and 12 hour ration packs!

Area burnt 300 hectares - Cost of fire-fighting per hectare approx R1,500 :=

BTW that's a lot of money down here!

Fly safe everyone AB