Firefighter aircraft crews practice at Divulje
The crews of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence’s firefighter aircraft (the Canadair CL-415 and the AT-802 A Fire Boss air tractor), on 26 August began practicing ditching and taxiing along the path at the “Knez Trpimir” Barracks at Divulje, Split.
The activity aims at training the pilots to administer the procedures prescribed for situations prompting ditching and taxiing to the apron along the concrete path in the Barracks by either of the two firefigher aircraft.
The Commander of the Firefigther Squadron, Major Davor Turković said that the practice was intended for the inexperienced pilots and crew members and as a refresher for others. Major Turković also said that the significantly decreased number of callouts in the 2014 firefighting season enabled the squadron to conduct training activities at both aircraft types to maintain and upgrade the crews members’ and the Squadron’s capabilities.
In the course of 2014 the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence have logged 472 flights, extinghishing 10 fires and dropping 2313 l of water, compared to 105 fires in 2013 and 391 fires in 2012 respectively within the same time span (to 26 August).