Pilots prepare for ‘seat-of-your-pants flying’

As wildfires raged this week in Griffith Park in Los Angeles and on Catalina Island, local safety officials were working to be ready for an early fire season. Over the last week, pilots from a tri-city helicopter unit based at John Wayne Airport trained at Irvine Lake, readying themselves for the fight.

The Airborne Law Enforcement unit, or A.B.L.E., is composed of officers from Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Santa Ana police departments. With three light turbine helicopters, the 12-person unit also assists local fire departments in dropping water on brush fires when needed.

Sgt. Jeff Van Es took pilot K.C. Gleason out to the lake for a practice session covering a number of water-drop techniques. Van Es offered some advice to Gleason, who executed a near-flawless run-through.

Gleason, 49, is a 20-year veteran of the airborne unit who has been with the Costa Mesa department since his high school years as a police explorer. He’s worked on 15 wildfires and has more than 11,000 hours of flight time.

Two styles, line and spot drops, are used most often, Van Es said. Pilots execute line drops to jump in front of fast-moving blazes, he said. Spot drops focus on one tree or structure and require different maneuvers.

An orange bucket made of rubberized canvas was used for the drop and is capable of carrying 108 gallons of water. The weight of the water alone can bring the helicopter spinning to the ground, Van Es said.

“Weight is a huge factor,” Van Es said. Every ounce of extra weight, including the co-pilot and any baggage, is removed from the helicopter before the pilot attaches the bucket and takes off.

Flying “isn’t more or less dangerous with the bucket,” Van Es said, but it can create a challenge in maneuvering.

“One of the limitations we have with the bucket is not being able to fly over heavily-populated areas,” he said, but added, “if a water source is nearby we can drop every two minutes.”

“It’s seat-of-your-pants flying,” Gleason said. “As the target goes under … you can’t see.” Instead, he added, a pilot has to use “distance and wind speed to determine where you make the drop.”

“That’s why we train,” Gleason said. “Safety is paramount.”