Simulator and Centre of Excellence to boost aerial firefighting

The Service recently strengthened its ability to fight fires from the air with the installation of a new aviation simulator and plans to build an Aviation Centre of Excellence at the NSW RFS Training Academy in Dubbo.

AVIATION TRAINING ENHANCED BY SIMULATOR

The NSW RFS provides training for more than 140 personnel to support aviation operations in a variety of roles including Air Attack Supervisors, Air Observers, Air Base Managers, Air Base Operators, Aircraft Officers and Air Operations Managers.

The majority of personnel who perform these roles are sourced from NSW RFS volunteer members across the state who receive specialised training. The NSW RFS also facilitates aviation training for other emergency services, including the NSW SES, as well as other interstate fire services.

The aviation simulator was purchased in response to recommendations from the NSW Bushfire Inquiry and installed at the NSW RFS Training Academy in Dubbo in March 2021. The simulator will allow for cost-effective training, maintaining and enhancing the skills of specialist aviation personnel in the emergency services.

The simulator, built like the cockpit of a helicopter, is designed to simulate specialist aviation roles. It exposes trainees and trained aviation personnel to difficult scenarios in a controlled virtual environment where their decision making can be monitored and assessed.

The aviation simulator in action at the NSW RFS Training Academy in Dubbo.

Helmet-mounted virtual reality headsets are used to simulate all types of weather and fire conditions, and enable the personnel to look in, around and out of a visual representation of a full aircraft.

The initial simulator is built on an AS350 Squirrel airframe, which is one of the most common rotary air attack platforms used by the NSW RFS. A virtual version of Firebird 200 has also been rendered within the system, and other typical NSW firefighting aircraft have been added to the aircraft library.

Inspector Bernie O’Rourke from the NSW RFS Aviation team says the system has been developed and designed to simulate Air Attack Supervisor and Air Observer training, with the ability to incrementally increase training intensity. The simulator was used as part of the Air Attack Supervisor course in Dubbo in June 2021, which allowed both instructors and participants to experience this new technology.

A NSW RFS member acts as the instructor for a simulation.

“Helmet-mounted devices simulate air traffic management and enable the instructor to alter scenarios to create new and exciting challenges in training and planning,” says Inspector O’Rourke. “The Aviation and Operational Capability teams will continue to assess how best we integrate the simulator as part of our broader aviation training program.”

The new simulator is the first of several aviation simulators that will operate at the new Aviation Centre of Excellence (more information below), and is in addition to the four winch simulators operated in Mogo, Armidale, Lithgow and Glendenning. All simulators were procured from and installed by Virtual Simulation Systems (VSS), an Australian company based in Port Stephens, NSW.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE A FIRST FOR AUSTRALIA

The Aviation Centre of Excellence, to be built at the NSW RFS Training Academy in Dubbo, will be a first in Australia and the home of aerial firefighting training across the state and country. The NSW RFS is working with Dubbo Regional Council to build the world-class, multi-million dollar centre, as recommended by the NSW Bushfire Inquiry.

The centre will consist of a two-storey building housing four simulator rooms, a central control room, meeting rooms and accommodation. The site at Dubbo City Regional Airport was chosen because of the accommodation facilities and space available, as well as the fact that training activities are less likely to disrupt commercial flights at a regional airport like Dubbo than in Sydney.

The NSW RFS will work with the National Aerial Firefighting Centre and other jurisdictions to promote and make the centre available to interstate and international personnel to enhance aerial firefighting capabilities more broadly. Construction of the centre is scheduled to commence in late 2021, with the centre opening in mid-2022.