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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 5:33 pm
by OUTLAW
air attak 690 is a air attack platform it is not a lead plane it is cessna 421
they will switch to an aero commander when it finishes a contract it is on.
as far as lead planes they are still used and are required any time there are five or more air tankers on a fire they also can be requested if air tankers asked for them.

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:42 pm
by ChrisK
Does that mean it is or isn't the aircraft leased by the County for the fire season? I was going by the newspaper articles, which said they were leasing a lead plane. Of course, they can't be relied on the get the story right.

Air Attack 690 was over a fire in the southern part of San Diego this afternoon. I'm not sure why they were dispatched, as Copter 1 was the only aircraft on the fire. They had a terrible time establishing air-to-air communications. Eventually, they made contact on Cal Fire Air Tactics 22. The fire was worked on SDFD Command 3/Tac 10. Copter 1 was using Mutual Aid 20. Air Attack finally came up on that channel, but really was no factor in the fight against the fire.

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:27 pm
by OUTLAW
air attacks 690 is on the County of San Diego contract. the newspaper story miss identified them as a lead plane. I find it very interesting there was no competitive bid process for either the air attack or CL 415's. 690 and the CL 415's will be dispatched to every wildland fire within the city of San Diego. at this time it is very unlikely you will see 690 or CL 415's used on any fires under the jurisdiction of Cal-fire or the US forest service. look for a lot of media coverage on the Canadian scoops they come with their own public information officer and will be trying to sell their program.

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:43 pm
by ChrisK
I've already heard 690 dispatched by Cal Fire to one of their fires, although they were canceled before takeoff when the ground units did not find any fire. The only other air unit dispatched along with 690 was copter 538, a Forest Service contract unit. The primary air attack (in this case 310 - I don't know where 330 was at the time), and all of the tankers and the County helicopters were already on the way to another fire.

So 690 seems to be acting as a back up for Cal Fire.

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:06 pm
by OUTLAW
As of 8-8-2008 690 will not be used by Cal-fire. this is subject to change on a daily basis. the lack of planning by the county and communications problems seem to be the issue.

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:37 pm
by ChrisK
What a waste of taxpayers' money! Does that mean that this plane will sit on the ground during the whole lease period, or that it will orbit uselessly over fires like it did over San Ysidro yesterday? An air attack isn't needed when only one helicopter is working a fire, or even two when the second one arrives. Will the water bombers sit idle too? With the obvious exceptions, there aren't many fires in the City that would justify their use.

I thought from the beginning this was just a political stunt. Show the taxpayers that their government cares about them so they'll keep voting the same incompetents back in. What a joke. County taxpayers are getting screwed.

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:56 am
by OUTLAW
Chris I have to say I disagree with you and here's why. First when a single helicopter is off getting water who is watching out for the firefighters on the ground? then you have to consider the media helicopters do you want that helicopter focused on what the media is doing where they're going and if there be a problem to you or do you concentrate on your water drops? I don't see how having any air attack coordinating between the ground and air, establishing air traffic control over the fire and having a constant watch over the firefighters on the ground is a waste of money.

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 10:34 am
by ChrisK
What is a waste of money is the use of County funds to pay for aircraft that are apparently not going to be used outside of the City of San Diego.

I don't have any particular problem with using an air attack over fires in San Diego, but there apparently has been no coordination or training with SDFD. Based on what I heard on SDFD channels the other day during the fire in San Ysidro, when air attack 690 finally came up on the radio, after a lot of confusion over what radio channels to use, the incident commander appeared to be surprised to hear from him. There were two short communications between the IC and air attack that I heard and then silence until the air attack plane was leaving the area after the fire was under control. During that period there were numerous communications between the IC and Copter 1.

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:13 pm
by ChrisK
I noticed this morning that during the Cal Fire morning report on MVU Local they reported "1 county air attack and 1 city air attack" as available resources.

Air Attack 690

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:34 pm
by N6766J
AA690, a Beechcraft King Air is a San Diego City Resource through the end of the year. AA690 has been added to San Diego's Medium and High Vegetation dispatches along with Copter 1 and 2. The remainder of the county will continue to use Monte Vista resources, AA330, Copter 10 & 12 and the two tankers from Ramona. San Diego will request fixed wing, including Super Scoopers from Monte Vista as part of the initial attack as determined by the alarm assignment.
ChrisK wrote:I've already heard 690 dispatched by Cal Fire to one of their fires, although they were canceled before takeoff when the ground units did not find any fire. The only other air unit dispatched along with 690 was copter 538, a Forest Service contract unit. The primary air attack (in this case 310 - I don't know where 330 was at the time), and all of the tankers and the County helicopters were already on the way to another fire.

So 690 seems to be acting as a back up for Cal Fire.