THE DROP
Ryan Mason ryan@aerialfire.com
Our ‘New Normal’ In early March of this year, the AerialFire team headed to Sacramento for the Aerial Firefighting North America show. Little did we know that the trip we took would be our last for a while, as shortly after, the
COVID-19 crisis went from slight concern to a fullblown pandemic. As I left Australia at the end of January, people wearing surgical masks in the street were unheard of, although as I left the airport in Melbourne, many workers in airport stores were wearing them, which at the time I deemed quite comical in my head. Fast forward eight weeks and it couldn’t be less comical. Having been a police officer previously, I am not prone to panic, but as is the case when wide-reaching incidents such as COVID-19 hit, many unfortunately are. That has led to many wide-ranging global economic consequences. Once bustling cities that never sleep, such as Las Vegas or New York City, now lie empty, devoid of thousands of tourists as everyone hunkers down and governments place more and more restrictions on movement in the effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. That, in turn, has put many thousands instantly on the unemployment line. We hope only temporarily, but some businesses may never recover from the economic impact this virus has caused in such a short time. Crises can bring out the best and the worst in people. We have seen empty shelves in stores around the world as greed and fear fuel panic buying of essential items. Yet as with the bad, stories like our industry’s very own Bridger Aerospace that I wrote about this week, restore your faith a
AF 6 | aerialfiremag.com
