WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Spent this afternoon babysitting 681 in Roleystone where it was placed in case of the need for rapid deployment






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As long as it sits there quietly and behaves itself I'm sure you didn't mind

Great pictures.

man i wish they would let me baby sit it lol

except it dumped a load of water on us a couple of weeks ago lol

great pics dude

Where abouts is 681 stationed in Roleystone?

Would like to take the kids to have a look.

Thanks

It is probably based at one of the airports in town - I'm guessing Perth rather than Jandakot.

My understanding is that it 681 is based at Perth Airport (Helicopters Australia) whilst 682 is based at Busselton? (confirmation on this??)

As Magnus has stated, it was based at Roleystone just for that day (and one or two others) due to the High risk of a fire breaking out.

G

681, the 4 Squirrel water bombers and Air Intel are all based at Perth airport during the contract period.
682 was at Perth airport until 1st January when it was moved to Busselton (as planned)

The fixed wing water bombers are at Jandakot, Bunbury & Albany

Magnus wrote:The fixed wing water bombers are at Jandakot, Bunbury & Albany

and Manjimup.

gkoutlis wrote:As Magnus has stated, it was based at Roleystone just for that day (and one or two others) due to the High risk of a fire breaking out.

As part of FESA's strategic plan for rapid response on days when conditions point to a likely high risk of bushfires, the Helitacs are "pre-staged" at various locations in the outer metro area. We have hosted Helitacs at Darlington on previous occasions, and i know 2x Type 3s were pre-staged at Baldivis recently.

How much faster is the response if they are prestaged? I would have thought Perth to the hills or Baldivis would have only been a few minutes by air so I'm assuming staging them outside of Perth or Jandakot is so they can depart when they feel like it rather than waiting for clearance?

dlcat1 wrote:How much faster is the response if they are prestaged? I would have thought Perth to the hills or Baldivis would have only been a few minutes by air so I'm assuming staging them outside of Perth or Jandakot is so they can depart when they feel like it rather than waiting for clearance?

It can take up to 1 hour to get clearance out of YPPH because the choppers have to give way to heavies.

On the day, 681 was in Roleystone & two Squirrels in Bullsbrook. The other two Squirrels & Air Intel remained at the airport.

Our duties were to keep the aircraft safe, provide information to interested members of the public and clear the area in the case of deployment.

it takes 7 to 12mins from the pilots to walk out to the aircraft, start up, get clearance, and take off. They can wait up to 5mins waiting to take off in the sequence. As for flight time, your looking at 10 mins from dep from the airport to the first drop at say darlington. Basing them at points saves time, especially in ''arson'' hot spots.

i live in ridgewood with is next to mindaire if you dont know and it took 30 min from take off to get to the two rocks fire on christmas day

Magnus wrote:It can take up to 1 hour to get clearance out of YPPH because the choppers have to give way to heavies.

Really?

Emergency aircraft are (well, should be) given way 100% of the time at any airport and throughout any controll zone. If its not an emergency, they can wait - if there is a fire somewhere, ATC will get them out as quickly as possible. They aren't stupid enough to let a fire burn while choppers sit on the ground waiting for a clearance.

When RFDS and the Fire Bombers go into/out of jandakot - everything is moved to get them on the ground or in the air. The number of times i've been sent around or delayed on ground to let an RFDS plane land/takeoff has been countless.

Nafenn wrote:

Magnus wrote:It can take up to 1 hour to get clearance out of YPPH because the choppers have to give way to heavies.

Really?

Emergency aircraft are (well, should be) given way 100% of the time at any airport and throughout any controll zone. If its not an emergency, they can wait - if there is a fire somewhere, ATC will get them out as quickly as possible. They aren't stupid enough to let a fire burn while choppers sit on the ground waiting for a clearance.

When RFDS and the Fire Bombers go into/out of jandakot - everything is moved to get them on the ground or in the air. The number of times i've been sent around or delayed on ground to let an RFDS plane land/takeoff has been countless.

Just repeating what I have been told when chatting with the crew.