The Aerotech Group, based in Parafield in South Australia continues its expansion with the delivery of two ex-United States Army UH-60L Blackhawks The aircraft temporarily on the US register (88-26037) N457DC and (89-26123) N518DC arrived after being road freighted from the Victorian docks. They will soon be registered VH-86L and VH-8UL.
Still in their previous operators military dark green the two airframes will now be converted and in time painted in the companies signature red, white and blue which the other four helicopters carry.
The company continues to expand the fleet, as the Blackhawk is now a requested tool by fire agencies. Australia has certainly embraced the type as it is seen in most states across the country now on fire contracts.
Aerotech have equipped their Blackhawks with the both a Bambi bucket and also the Australian designed and manufactured Helitak FT4500 belly tanks. Enabling the company to meet the requirements of fire agencies for contracted work. The FT4500 tank which is able to carry 4500 litres (1188 gallons) allows for minimal modifications to the Blackhawk when installed on the airframe utilising the ESSS mounts and cargo hook.
Aerial Fire Magazine spoke with Chris Boyd, the company’s CEO:
“At Aerotech, we have been focussed on aerial firefighting for decades. It is our main business and we intend to continue growing this sovereign capability and provide our fire agencies, staff and volunteers with the tools they need to protect our communities.”
“We ensure the aircraft we provide and our business as a whole is aligned to the fire agencies requirements, especially rapid initial attack and keeping fires small and contained so that ground crews can get around them and extinguish asap. That’s why we operate 802 SEAT’s and Black Hawks, they are both fast, reliable and plenty of power to carry a large load of water. But additionally we ensure that the infrastructure and resources supporting the aircraft are not a limiting factor either with company owned assets supporting operations wherever we go. Our aircraft keep evolving with upgrades to legacy equipment and incorporating new technology when doing so brings value to the client or improves the efficiency of the aircraft”
“Finally, it’s no secret that here in Australia, it’s hard to find qualified people in nearly every industry. We don’t use this as an excuse, instead we do our best to build a work environment that people are attracted to and want to be involved in. Good aircraft, good culture and good resourcing combined with purposeful and rewarding work has been benefited us immensely. An environment like that takes a long time to create and is a credit to the owners of Aerotech. It’s a priority for us to maintain that work environment.”
It’s worth mentioning that Aerotech currently has the only Australian VH registered Blackhawks in operation. In July the company sent three examples to Indonesia to operate in the aerial firefighting role, supporting the BNPB Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management for the 2024 fire season. Additionally it supplied 6 x AT-802 Air Tractors to Securite Civile in France for aerial firefighting.
Founded in 1968 by Bob and Pam McCabe with a small fleet of two Cessna 180 and a CAC Ceres the company has grown and expanded with a fleet now comprising of sixteen Air Tractor AT-802s, two Air Tractor AT-502, six UH-60 Blackhawks, four AS350s two EC130s two EC135s, one B206 and one Cessna Caravan.
