Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

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Sikorsky and firetech developer Rain have demonstrated and tested the helicopter manufacturer’s Matrix autonomy system and Rain’s wildfire suppression planning software in a Black Hawk helicopter on a propane fire and burning brush piles. The testing took place in late April in Southern California and “familiarized firefighters with the potential of autonomy to help crewed and uncrewed firefighting helicopters find and suppress early-stage wildfires,” according to Sikorsky.
Supported in part by a research and development grant from power company PG&amp;E, the testing, at 3,300 feet and with occasional wind gusts up to 30 knots, was the first time Rain and Sikorsky demonstrated the autonomous capability over live fires in wildfire-prone terrain. San Bernardino County Fire Protection District prepared the test fires, and witnesses included representatives from Cal Fire, San Bernardino County Fire District, Orange County Fire Authority, and the U.S. Forest Service.
Equipped with fly-by-wire flight controls, satellite datalink, and thermal and vision cameras, the Matrix Black Hawk can be flown autonomously or by onboard pilots. During the tests, safety pilots were on the helicopter, which was flown by a ground operator using a Rain tablet to command firefighting tasks. These included “guiding the aircraft to a water source; filling the bucket in a hover; searching and finding a brush pile fire with the aircraft’s thermal sensor; determining the fire size; calculating the flight path, speed, and altitude to the fire; accounting for wind speed and direction during suppression; and determining the precise moment to release water to achieve the desired water coverage level.”
A 324-gallon Bambi Bucket was attached to the Black Hawk via a 40-foot sling line. The Rain operators could monitor the helicopter’s activity using sensors on the helicopter that geolocated the fire and by watching video on the Rain tablet.
Additionally, the Sikorsky-Rain team demonstrated hand-off of helicopter control between the autonomous operation and the onboard pilots and communication between the Matrix Black Hawk and another human-piloted helicopter in the vicinity. The tests involved 24 hours of flying over two weeks.
“With this layered autonomy system, incident commanders and pilots can choose a level of autonomy suitable for their mission, adding new features as they experience improved flight safety gains and enhanced suppression functionality,” said Sikorsky v-p and general manager Rich Benton.
“The technology that Rain and Sikorsky [are] demonstrating is a powerful part of the ecosystem of advancing fire service technology that is answering the year-round fire seasons we’re facing throughout California,” said chief Dan Munsey, San Bernardino County Fire District. “Of all the tools we have to keep wildfires small, none are more effective than rapid suppression on initial attack of a wildfire. Autonomous aircraft—both crewed and uncrewed—can increase flexibility and capacity for on-the-ground incident commanders, ultimately saving lives and property for the communities we serve.”

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