Bridger Aerospace - Scooping to Success

BRIDGER AEROSPACE

SCOOPING TO SUCCESS

Bridger Aerospace is somewhat the new kid on the block in the aerial firefighting world. The company, founded in 2014, started its first season in aerial firefighting during the 2015 fire season.

Initially formed to provide air attack services for the fireground, Bridger Aerospace has grown rapidly since its earnest beginnings, recently completing its sixth fire season and incorporating new initial attack aircraft into the mix.

Staffing a company that has gone from strength to strength within the aerial firefighting world has been a challenge undertaken by CEO Tim Sheehy and COO Darren Wilkins. Wilkins, a former Naval Aviator, spent 20 years as a Naval Flight Officer flying the EA60 Prowler among other airframes before joining the team at Bridger two and a half years ago.

Bridger Aerospace started with a modest fleet of two piston Shrike Commanders, later adding several turbine commanders as the company, their mission and contracts increased. The company has continued to add to their air attack aircraft inventory, recently adding several Kodiak’s to the fleet that now numbers ten air attack aircraft (six Shrike Commanders and four Kodiak’s).

“We are a company that is very, very excited about the leading edge, and the next generation of aerial firefighting and felt that it was our responsibility to help change the industry for the better, and by bringing in a new very capable aircraft that could perform the mission and that’s why we chose the Kodiak to bring in this year”

Initial Attack

In addition to the air attack mission, Bridger began to think outside the box, wanting to expand into the initial attack area of the aerial firefighting business. They achieved that through a commitment made to purchase a total of six CL 415 EAF “Super Scooper” aircraft made by Viking Aircraft over the next several years.

Bridger has so far received two of the new 415 EAF aircraft, the first of which was put straight to work in Nevada. The second aircraft received in May of 2020 was also sent to Nevada after its final fit-out on an as-needed contract with the state.

The company expects delivery of two more aircraft in 2021 and the remaining two aircraft in the summer of 2022 that will bring the ever-growing company fleet to six initial attack aircraft and ten air attack platforms.

Unmanned Systems

Bridger Aerospace has continued to look for ways to innovate in the aerial firefighting industry, recently how to best supply needed information to firefighters on the ground. That has led the company into a substantial investment in also providing unmanned systems that are at the forefront of technology.

The company operates two FBR-90 unmanned systems that are fitted with the latest EO/IR technology as an intelligence and surveillance (ISR) platform that can provide downlinked information on fire progression, direction and danger areas to incident commanders through the technology suite provided by L3 Harris Technologies.

“These systems provide the most up to date information, and it helps coordinate the fire efforts in real-time as opposed to watching a plane leave first thing in the morning and come back to provide information that by that time is a couple of hours old. We’re providing actual real-time information to them,” said Wilkins.

The Scooper

As only the second operator in the United States to operate the super scooper platform, Wilkins stated that the CL-415 EAF suits their needs and that of their customers perfectly. The scooper’s ability to quickly attack a fire front, especially with a close water source has already proven to be a huge asset in their early work in Nevada this year.

Modern Technology

Moving forward, after the delivery of the final two CL-415 EAF’s, Wilkins stated that there was interest in continuing to add aircraft as the business grows, potentially looking at the as yet to be produced CL-515 although there are still significant hurdles to overcome for Viking to commit to producing them.

International Operations

Bridger has expressed interest in becoming a truly global entity that provides aircraft around the world, having eyes on bringing the super scooper to Australia in the not too distant future to demonstrate the effectiveness of the platform that is not currently utilized on firegrounds in that country.

“We are a professional company that continues to always look for the next big thing that we can do to help support the ground crews. Make no mistake about it, our customers are the guys that are on the ground. We want to help those guys get the fires out as quickly as possible. They are the ones that are in harm’s way. They are the ones that are putting their lives on the line to protect communities, protect structures and protect our forests, whether it’s here in the US or down in Australia, so we want to be wherever we can to provide the best support possible.”

Contracts

Even as a relatively young company, Bridger has continued to move from strength to strength based on the quality of the work they provide, having already gained contracts with the US Forest Service and the DUI Department of the Interior, which includes the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Bridger has also flown missions already for the states of Washington and Oregon, and has contracts with the states of Montana, Alaska and Nevada.

Hiring

Although hiring is one of the more difficult tasks the management team at Bridger does, based on the level of experience needed and the volume of applicants, Wilkins states

that the selection process for an aerial firefighting pilot with Bridger is incredibly stringent, meaning that the majority of pilots already flying the super scoopers have a vast background in the industry and thousands of hours flying scoopers before working for Bridger.

Langton’s process of hiring the next generation begins on the other side of the mission, selecting the best pilots from the air attack side of the house that are interested in flying the scooper aircraft. From there, each candidate is sent to ground and sim school with Pacific Sky, the training arm of Viking Aircraft. After that, it is on to CRM training and a survival course. The training piece before a candidate takes a seat in the actual aircraft takes approximately 4-6 weeks to complete before they are then paired with a very experienced pilot and join the super scooper team as a copilot.

Once in the super scooper, Langton states “that is where the real learning begins.” Pilots transitioning from the air attack side already have the fire operations experience from working the overwatch side of the operation, however moving into the scooper requires pilots to learn a whole different set of radio procedures to operate in the fire traffic area. “Pilots then move into learning the full fire program so it’s a transition of that knowledge into the ability to fly the plane and how to drop water effectively,” said Langton.

The Right Fit

Langton, when asked about hiring from the outside, has a unique view of who the ideal candidates are to hire. “We could hire directly in, but I don’t think that’s great to transition from the outside directly into the right seat of the scooper operation because we want to promote from within for a positive work environment. We definitely look for people with IFR experience but also extensive floatplane experience, so it seems like the majority of the people that have the full experience come from Alaska, or potentially Florida or Caribbean. It’s a nice market to have that. We are looking for pilots with multi-engine and float experience. If they have multi-engine, we can then get them into the air attack side for a year to understand the fire system, then it’s an easy transition, knowing the fire environment.”

As a rapidly expanding company, and one that has had plenty of media coverage, Langton says that the company can at times be inundated with pilot resumes, both qualified and unqualified, but that he and his team do their best to reply to every applicant and even those that are just looking to get into the industry in the future. Langton believes that by showing encouragement and continued interest in candidates and offering advice in their journey, the company is helping foster the next generation of aircrew for the industry. “I always give positive encouragement and let them know what I’ve done in my career to fly this aircraft. Anybody that asks me I’ll always tell them that it’s the hands and feet stick and rudder kind of stuff of floatplane operations that will make these jobs a lot easier but also at the same time it’s knowing the crew environment. I always want to give people positive feedback on their abilities and how they can improve them” said Langton.

Making it to the Big Seat

Although the transition into the copilot seat in the scooper requires a good amount of flight hours and a varied level of different aircraft and ratings, making it to the pilot in command position in the scooper is a long term commitment. The time it takes to transition from copilot to pilot in command of a super scooper can vary greatly from two to four years serving as a copilot for Bridger. For Langton, the level of experience and each pilot’s learning on the job is a key part of transitioning from one role to the next.

“There is a lot to understand in the operations of that airplane. As you gain that experience it’s not necessarily a number of hours flown. But it’s the experience of flying the plane knowing the systems knowing the limitations and how to operate it effectively.”

One of the most important traits Langton stressed is important in the Bridger operation is teamwork, not just between scooper pilots, but he explained that the Bridger team as a whole, works like a well-oiled machine because everyone is working for the common goal, from the logistics of getting aircraft and support to a fire ground, to organizing staffing, maintenance and operational support from the company headquarters in Montana, it all requires a team environment to be continually fostered. This also includes working with other operators, sometimes competitors in the field.

Langton gave details of a fire operation recently in Elko, Nevada, where teamwork between themselves and competitor AeroFlite was essential. Good coordination as well as working as a team of scoopers, and not two separate companies, was the difference between getting ahead of the firefighting effort, which went seamlessly during the operation.

Maintenance

Bridger Aerospace’s maintenance operations have been in a state of continual change since its inception in 2015, starting with the initial fleet of aircraft being small piston-powered aircraft, then transitioning to turbine-powered aircraft, and adding several different airframes, all of which required new tools and knowledge. Dallas Hanson heads up Bridger’s maintenance operations based in Montana, although, with the nature of the work involved, many of Bridger’s maintenance staff are required to operate in the field at aerial firefighting bases, offering a whole new level of challenges to the maintenance operations in the company.

Hanson, a maintenance engineer with over 25 years of maintenance experience came to Bridger from Canada, having a wealth of experience maintaining super scoopers for the Canadian government before joining Bridger.

Rating the work at Bridger a welcome challenge, Hanson considers the work he does as his biggest challenge yet. It’s a whole new game,” said Hanson, but also stated that the difference between working in his previous environment and the one he does now at Bridger has been the support offered from management to get the job done. From setting up the operation, to safely maintaining the aircraft in the field, there has never been such great support, even though according to Hanson it has been a learning curve as everyone wears five hats as the company continues to evolve and go through the growing pains associated with a newer operation and one that is bringing new aircraft online.

Hanson continues to build the maintenance operation at Bridger with a little help from Canada. As one of the largest operators of The CL-215/CL-415, experienced maintainers in the United States were in short supply that had experience on the airframe, so Hanson and his team got to work bringing in experienced Canadian maintainers that could also train new staff up to their standards on the new CL-415 EAF

Parts

With any airframe, parts procurement is always a challenge, even more so with the Viking CL-215 and 415 series aircraft. Due to the lack of a parts stockpile, challenges have come up, and been overcome by any means possible by the maintenance team. Making sure the company has an adequate level of parts inventory is no easy feat for Hanson and his team, sometimes even requiring worldwide searches for the appropriate part and even swapping parts with other operators where a needed part is exchanged for a part the company already has in stock by the other company doesn’t. Such is the world of operating an aircraft that is still ramping up its parts supply from the vendor which Hanson rates as one of the more complex parts of his position, but one overcome by the teamwork environment between super scooper operators, all of who understand the unique challenges they all face and endeavor to overcome together.

Changing the Game

As a relative newcomer to the industry in the last five years, Bridger has shown that the company is one of several that think ahead for the greater good of the industry. Bridger continues to bring new products to the aerial firefighting industry that push the envelope and provide new solutions that provide services faster and more efficiently than has been seen in the industry previously.

With rapid growth, Bridger is fast becoming one of the operators to watch in the aerial firefighting industry. They continue to blaze a trail and succeed in offering aircraft and solutions to the industry that not only benefit those in the air but those on the ground as they continue to fight the good fight to save lives and property.