In September, Volo Mission owners Kimberly and Andre Hutchings finalized the purchase of 22 acres of land adjoining Volo’s 38-acre external load training location in Campbell, Texas. The additional acreage will allow for further development of training exercises to include two ponds for aerial firefighting operations.
One will be used as a beginner pond for belly bucket training, while the other pond will be located amongst the trees with a live stream feeding into it. This will be used once pilots have built their skill set or for pilots using buckets and long lines. The second pond also simulates what pilots will encounter when dipping from remote water sources while fighting fires.
“Having the ability to train in a real, yet controlled environment is extremely important because it builds the skills and confidence needed to safely and effectively work in an intense operation such as aerial firefighting,” said Andre. “We anticipate the ponds being ready for use for our Annual Helicopter Fire Seminar scheduled for March 3 and 4, 2017.”
The ponds aren’t the only new exercises that have been added since relocating to Texas. “We have added exercises to include more confined area placement, flying wheeled loads, and training with OnBoard Systems new TALON auto-loc cargo hook,” added Andre. “We are always thinking of, and building new exercises in order to cater to all sectors of the utility industry.”
In addition to vertical reference and long line training, Volo Mission will focus more on education outside of the cockpit. “Human factors is a huge part of aviation however, there is not much emphasis placed specifically on the utility industry,” said Kimberly. “Pilots attend long line training to gain the skills needed to fly long lines and vertical reference, but walk away missing a very important piece in regard to learning what all is involved in utility operations, the human factors piece.”
Volo Mission will offer its first Human Factors course specifically catering to the utility industry in 2017. “We will include an element of this in our Annual Fire Seminar held in March, but we have scheduled a Human Factors seminar solely dedicated to the utility industry for April 22, 2017,” added Kimberly.
“This year we have had the opportunity to work with some great pilots and clients such as Columbia Helicopters located in Oregon; Helisur located in Peru; and OnBoard Systems located in Washington,” said Kimberly. “We were also fortunate enough to have SEI/Bambi buckets, OnBoard Systems, and Barry Cordage present at our 2016 Fire Seminar and they have agreed to present again at the upcoming March 2017 seminar.”
