Page 10 - Chapter Chatter EAA 78
P. 10
CHAPTER CHATTER, EAA Chapter 78 10
Flying the Presidential TFR Female firefighting pilots leading the
Aviate, navigate, communicate? Well, yes, but if you
plan to penetrate a Presidential TFR, those happen only way
after find, phone, copy, file.
When it comes to taking to the skies to combat fires,
women are still few and far between. However, Captain
Natalie Jones and pilot Alba Castellanos are paving the
way for a younger generation to get in on the action.
From the United States and Spain respectively, they
travel the world from Greece to Turkey, the United
States and Australia, fighting fires in one of the world’s
largest firefighting helicopters, the twin-engine Sikorsky
S-64E Aircrane.
As the only female Aircrane pilots currently working for
Erickson Aviation, the first opportunity they had to work
together was in Western Australia on the Aircrane
Georgia Peach, which is contracted to the Department
Find the NOTAM. Phone TSA at least 24 hours in of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).
advance. Copy your confirmation number. File a flight
plan, possibly with an intermediate stop.
The two were on shift together from first to last light at
Serpentine Airfield south of Perth and Alba said it was
The milk run for Mrs. Levinson and me is between great to be able to work with Natalie and share some of
KBED, in the Boston suburbs where we live most of the their experiences.
year, and KMVY on the island of Martha’s Vineyard,
where we wish we lived most of the year. Bill Clinton Alba, 43, a former professional musician, fell in love
spent six of his eight summers as President on with flying after tagging along with a friend who was
Martha’s Vineyard, but that was before 9/11 and life crop dusting near the Spanish coast.
was simpler. He enjoyed a 3 nautical mile no-fly zone
wherever he went, and his arrival or departure from the “That sensation of flying was awesome and especially
small Martha’s Vineyard airport would briefly shut down feeling the hover which is different from fixed wing. It
other airport operations, but it wasn’t a big deal. 9/11 just touched me in such a way that it became a love
changed all that, and as Barack Obama spent seven of story for me,” Alba said.
his eight Presidential summers on Martha’s Vineyard,
we locals have had a lot more Secret Service facetime
than most.
