SkyCrane Crewing

[Cougar]

G'day all,
Just wondering who is crewing Elvis and the Incredible Hulk Skycranes used for the bushfires. Are they Yank pilots or do we have our own and we only contract out the aircraft?

Sure this was answered last year but can't seem to find it anywahere.

As an aside, how long are these crews working crew duty wise at the moment? How many crews are there per airframe?

Cheers.

[Hugh Jarse]

I had the opportunity to have a chat with the pilot of Elvis last year up in YPMQ while on standby for fires in the Coffs area. It was the same bloke that did the interviews on TV. A really nice and laid-back sort of dude.

He was saying that this is a "sideline" for Erickson. Most of the time he is tasked with supporting logging operations.

Yes, the aircraft come with crew.