Here is some additional information from a couple of points I raised above.
Lead planes are used to fly the flight path of an air tanker before the air tanker flies it. This is done to make sure that the drop is effective by showing the air tanker pilot the path and timing of the drop as well as to detect any adverse flying conditions such as clear air turbulence, updrafts, and downdrafts. It is easier for the lead plane to pull out of an unexpected downdraft than it is for a loaded air tanker, so this trial run is done for safety purposes. If a lead plane is not on the incident, especially when their is only one aircraft on a fire and it is an air tanker, the first run might take a fairly conservative path and elevation. Sometimes this is not as effective as it is when a lead plane is there. Lead planes are Forest Service owned aircraft with permanent employee pilots. These pilots fly administrative flights and conduct training in the winter.
Recons: when I was working for the Forest Service the observer did not have to have any qualifications on their Interagency Incident Qualifications Card, or "Red Card" as it is commonly known. The Forest Service had just started requiring a yearly refresher course on flying in Forest Service owned or contracted aircraft in the mid to late 90's. It was required for all employees likely to use these aircraft, whether that was for fire or other purposes. Resource management personnel often flew for for such purposes as wildlife census, insect damage, off highway vehicle enforcement, grazing administration, and other reasons. They had to have the yearly refresher for using Forest Service owned or contracted aircraft. For obvious reasons, recon aircraft are always "high winged." Sometimes we were invited to join a flight being conducted by a state agency, such as the Fish and Game (or Game and Fish) agency for a state or for the state forestry agency when looking at insect and disease damage. We were not allowed to fly with them unless their aircraft was carded by the Forest Service. Forest Service recons usually utilized local airport private flight services.
All aircraft and the pilots used by the Forest Service, whether they be helicopters, air tankers, or heli-tankers had to be "carded." Air tankers and heli-tankers had to be carded. This involved periodic inspection of the aircraft and the flying qualifications of the pilots. If an aircraft was carrying Forest Service employees it had to be carded and so did the pilot. A similar program exists in the Interior Department for the BLM, Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and BIA and used to be called the Department of Interior Office of Aircraft Services or "OAS." They have changed names and I don't recall what OAS is called now. I believe that the Forest Service required Forest Service carding even when aircraft and pilots were OAS carded, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure if they still have this duplication of effort. I just got on the aircraft dispatch sent for me or my crew to fly in.
Military aircraft flying "MAFFS" missions dropping retardant did not get carded, and none of their other aircraft or pilots did either. We were not allowed to fly in military aircraft except under very unusual circumstances, such as during the Yellowstone Fires in 1988. I was able to fly in a C-140, a Chinook, and a Apache that year and it was a great experience. I had an Army platoon for a fire crew for 5 weeks that year and all crew bosses with military crews were given special permission to fly in military aircraft that year.
Although observers in recon aircraft did not have to have any formal qualifications being able to work the radio, plot an exact position on a map, give instructions to the pilot as to where to fly, and communicate with responding ground forces, quite often all at the same time, required a fairly savvy person. It is not easy to be able to keep track of exactly where you are on a map or what exactly you are looking at on the ground. It requires a great deal of map skills combined with a very good knowledge of the ground. Not everyone who had traveled the ground extensively had the skills to recognize it from the air. In my experience you had to travel on the ground a lot and then take frequent flights over that same ground before you became good at being an observer. You had to be one of those people with the talent to always know where you are and able to relate it to a map. The geographically illiterate did not make good observers.
I will list the numbers assigned to recon aircraft in California as my last post might have been hard to figure out. Remember that on Forests that have an air attack ship, those ships usually do the routine fire recons on the Forest. Those Forests only have recon numbers assigned to them in case the air attack ship is working another assignment. Like hotshot crews, air tankers, and helicopters, air attack ships are national resources and under the control of NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center - Boise, Idaho). Those resources routinely work incidents all over the country and can be gone for long periods. Three numbers are given each Forest or BLM District in case they have more than one ship up in the air at the same time. This is not usually the case.
Angeles NF Recon 10, 11, 12
Cleveland NF Recon 13, 14, 15
Eldorado NF Recon 16, 17, 18
Inyo NF Recon 19, 20, 21
Klamath NF Recon 22, 23, 24
Lassen NF Recon 25, 26, 27
Los Padres NF 28, 29, 30
Mendocino NF 31, 32, 33
Modoc NF 34, 35, 36
Sequoia NF 37, 38, 39
Plumas NF 40, 41, 42
San Bernardino NF 43, 44, 45
Six Rivers 46, 47, 48
Shasta-Trinity NF 49, 50, 51
Sierra NF 52, 53, 54
Stanislaus NF 55, 56, 57
Tahoe NF 58, 59, 60
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit 61, 62, 63
Susanville BLM (northern Calif. Field Offices) 64, 65, 66
Bakersfield BLM (central Calif. Field Offices) 67, 68, 69
California Desert District BLM (southern Calif. Field Offices) 70, 71, 72
While I'm at it, I might as well list the helicopters as well. Ships and crews qualified to accomplish "heli-rappels" are listed as "RQ." This is a method of unloading crew members when a heli spot is not available, so the ship hovers while the crew members rappel off the landing struts. FR means "fast rope" and I'm not familiar with that technique enough to explain it. I would guess it involves lowering people at the end of a rope where the rope is fed by someone and/or something on the ship. A rappel, by contrast involves a person lowering themselves on a rope fixed to the ship. In that case the person doing the rappel controls the speed of the descent. The location of the helicopter's base is shown after the unit it is assigned to. A * is shown for crews of 18 or more.
502 RQ Klamath NF Scott Valley Airport
503 RQ Klamath NF Happy Camp Helibase
506 RQ* Shasta-Trinity NF Trinity Airport
510 RQ* Lassen NF Chester Airport
512 RQ Plumas NF Quincy Airport
514 RQ Tahoe NF White Cloud Helibase
516 FR* Eldorado NF Big Hill Helibase
517 RQ Stanislaus NF Bald Mtn. Helibase
520 RQ Sierra NF Trimmer Helibase
522 RQ Sequoia NF Peppermint Helibase
523 RQ Sequoia NF Kernville Airport
525 RQ Inyo NF Independence Airport
527 RQ Los Padres NF Arroyo Grande Helibase
528 RQ Los Padres NF Santa Ynez Airport
530 Los Padres NF Chuchapate Helibase
531 RQ Angeles NF Chilao Helibase
534 RQ San Bernardino NF Heaps Peak Helibase
535 San Bernardino NF Keenwild Helibase
538 Cleveland NF Ramona Airport
551 RQ Yosemite NP Crane Flat Helibase
552 Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP Ash Mtn. Helibase
553 BLM Susanville Ravendale Helibase
554 BLM California Desert District Apple Valley Airport
Helicopter 555 at Keene is no longer operating.
Now for Cal Fire
101 MEU Howard Forest
102 HUU Kneeland
104 LNU Boggs Mtn.
106 SCU Alma
202 LMU Bieber
205 TGU Vina
301 Hemet/Ryan
303 MVU Gillespie
305 BDU Prado
404 TCU Columbia
406 BEU Bear Valley
Here are the bases for the Type I Helicopters or "heli-tankers"
Angeles NF Van Nuys Airport
San Bernardino NF San Bernardino Airport
Cleveland NF Hemet Airport
Sierra NF Mariposa Airport
Sequoia NF Porterville Airport
Los Padres NF Casitas Helibase
Eldorado NF Pacific Ranger Station
Mendocino NF Orland
Lassen NF Chester Airport
Klamath NF Siskiyou Airport
The Type I helicopters are on a contract that moves them around the country and around California depending on the date. I don't know the dates or the numbers of these helicopters as that information is no longer available to the public, just like fixed wing air tankers.
