Dr Dre, this would be a great idea. A long term project to establish an aerial fire fighting capability like the Canadians/USA and Europeans have. As mentioned we could even contract it out in our winter.
Unfortunately, I think SunFish might on the money. We just don’t seem to be able to plan beyond the next election cycle in this country. The debacle of the States v Feds with Covid is showing us that there isn’t any cooperation at state/federal government level on anything.
The reality is, Coulson et al, would still hold the contract, supply the hardware, but would be required to employ and train a percentage of local pilots so in the years to come we would have a skeleton local crew through the winter, with the overseas contingent arriving with more airframes and personnel for the summer.
We currently have a “crew” of pilots and observers, to operate the “Firescan” Learjet, sitting in Nowra, fully paid, not doing anything, they would be a good group to send to Canada/USA to start training.
There would be enough local pilots that have spent the last 10+ years fighting fires in their helo’s and Ag tractors that would be able to step up to some bigger machines, Also ex military guys and girls with low level experience.
One of the biggest hurdles for the LAT’s is the refilling recourses available. So there are some more jobs for our locals. Equipment could be spread around suitable airports, and maybe a few mobile units, and be maintained by the local RFS/CFS or council ready for use as required.
There are sectors of GA that are struggling currently, this could be a legitimate career path for some of those newer pilots.
As the fire seasons seem to be getting longer, they are starting to overlap with the Northern hemisphere, so we need to have some assets on the ground year around. This would allow for training during the “off” season with the CFS during the back burning, thus keeping the crew current and most importantly, SAFE.
The AFAP didn’t just say ex airline pilots, it’s about all Australian pilots getting an opportunity.
The major hurdle in all of this will be CASA, so it’s probably just a pipe dream 😩