Helitak launches firefighting bucket range
Helitak Firefighting Equipment unveiled a new range of aerial firefighting buckets at this year’s Aerial Firefighting North America conference
The range includes the FB10K, a 2,642gal (10,000L) bucket designed for the CH-47 Chinook, and the FB1200, a smaller bucket designed to hold 317gal (1,200L).
The products are intended to offer an alternative to Helitak’s tank-based systems, and allow both system types to be sold from a single point of contact.
The buckets are also compatible with existing onboard Helitak equipment, such as the company’s proprietary drop controller. They are also capable of multi-stage dropping, and will be able to extract a full load of water from a source in under a minute using an in-built pump.
Helitak added that it aims to finish flight testing of the new designs in the coming week, and plans to release the buckets for sale before this summer’s fire season. The company has already begun taking pre-orders for the range.
Phenix Solutions also recently selected Helitak to support the development of a firefighting configuration for its Ultra 2XL uncrewed aerial vehicle.
Oliver Cuenca
Oliver Cuenca is a Junior Editor at the Voyageur Group. He was previously a News and Features Journalist for the rail magazine IRJ until 2021, and studied MA Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. His favourite helicopter is the AW169 – the workhorse of the UK air ambulance sector! He also led the creation of Waypoint: The AirMed&Rescue podcast, serving as its Production Editor and co-host.