Friday, April 12, 2013

H is for Helicopters

Helicopters are great assets when it comes to fighting fire. They carry out bucket drops, transport crews into gnarly territory, and act as eagle eyes for those on the ground.


My first helicopter ride lasted about two minutes. The guys on my crew let me sit in the front seat next to the pilot which gave me an awesome view of the Great Salt Lake reflecting the pinks and orange of the western sky. With only an hour or two of daylight left, the helicopter crew helped transport us and all our gear to the top of the mountain so we could attack the fire and hike back down. (Unfortunately, there was a big flare-up which kept us on the mountain until after dark and we hiked down with our headlamps.)

The second helicopter ride was a few minutes longer, and pretty damn exciting (though nothing to compete with skydiving). I was transported with a crew to the top of a mountain again, but because of how far away everything was, we got to have a ride back to camp instead of hiking down in the dark.

Helicopters are kinda scary...but mostly I think they're really cool.

Fire Away!

1 comment:

  1. I want to ride in a helicopter!!! You're so cool, Buddy. :-)

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