Page 12 - May 2020
P. 12
I WENT FOR A “SPIN”! Bill called me on the radio and said, “One more
by Jim Munro bucket and every things looking good and we
can head home, to La Ronge!” “Great! Roger,”
rd
It was about 5 P.M., July 3 , 1983, on the Dreger River says I, as I swung back into the river for one “last”
system, 30 miles N.W. of Pine House, Saskatchewan; bucket. What a poor choice of words! Here I was,
I was flying a Sikorsky S-55 Turbine powered 54 years old, I had cut most of my baby teeth, on
helicopter, on an Initial Forest Fire Attack Mission. helicopter antics, and was looking ahead to
There had been an unusual amount of fire starts from turning 55, in a few months! “Glubb, Glubb”,
the large number of lightning strikes, the previous went the bucket, as it sank into the river and I
evening, so we were the sole attack crew, sent to pulled in the power!! “BANG”, went something?
provide Initial Attack on this particular fire, from the The Pilot’s seat in a Sikorsky 55, is up rather high,
Lac la Ronge Fire Base. Back-up fire crews were (compared to the rest of the fuselage of many
being flown into our site from Isle La Crosse, by float medium helicopters), which not only gives the
equipped Beaver aircraft. pilot excellent visibility, but it allows him to stick
My crew on board that particular day, consisted of his head out of the side window, (much like the old
Peter Vis, (Helicopter Engineer) and the Initial Attack steam locomotive engineer, that used to shunt by
fire crew, led by Foreman and competent fire fighter, our house), but “believe me”, when I say, I could
Bill Mahoney, of La Ronge. really see… a lot!
Little, did I know, that on that day, I would take, (another As I pulled in the power and watched the bucket
ride for my life), and would be “elevated” by “Peter”, my come up out of the water, there was a very loud
trusty Engineer. What an appropriate name, he had, as “BANG”, and by the time I had looked up, the
he stood about 6 ft. 6”, in big stocking feet, (which was helicopter had already turned 90 degrees to the
considerably higher above ground level, than my much right, and was starting to spin, as it also,
shorter dimensions! proceeded on up the river!.
I had dropped Peter off, with the fire crew, while I Helicopters, at low speed, have a mind of their
dropped many buckets of river water onto the fire line, own, particularly when the Little Fan at the
which was close to the river’s edge. When a “water back either disappears or decides to quit
source” is within a short distance, (eg. ½ mile), of a fire; a turning !
bucket equipped helicopter becomes an extremely Some say, “Oh That’s The Fan That Keeps The Pilot
effective tool in fighting a forest or grass fire. Cool, ‘Cause When That Quits, The Pilot Really
Starts To Sweat”! Well I didn’t have much time to
sweat or even fret, so after about 3 or 4 spins, it
was time for me to “roll-off the power”, and do my
best to stay right side up. All I had to do now was to
land a wheel-based helicopter, into the wet river!
“Glubb, Glubb”, went the Sikorsky, as it settled
into the cold running water. “Spark, Spark”,
went all the batteries and electronics that were
way down, deep within the 55’s Tummy, as
“She” leaned way over, as “She” sank.
