The wildfire season is underway, so it’s timely to consider decision-making by pilots who are called on to help tackle blazes.

CAA Investigator Jason Frost-Evans says regardless of the pressure pilots feel to respond quickly to fires, it’s essential to take a calm approach.

“As pilot-in-command, when you’re deciding about responding to a request to help fight a fire, you need to operate safely, and therefore be on the right side of the law.

“And if you can’t fully comply with the law and fly safely, then don’t fly.

“Most people naturally have a powerful urge to help in an emergency. It takes professionalism, discipline, and internal strength to say no when the benefits don’t outweigh the risks. We don’t want to see people killed because they were trying to save some trees or a shed.”

Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Aviation Lead, Stephen Bishop, says there’s a range of well-established reasons pilots may feel compelled to respond to a request to fight a fire, including ‘mission mentality’ (a fixation on completing the mission without proper consideration of risk), and concerns about the consequences of deciding not to respond.

No pilot or operator, he says, should react to pressure – from any source – to fly when the situation indicates they should not.

“Fire and Emergency will support them totally when they feel they can’t fly.”

Over the next 12 months, Stephen will be discussing the idea of an ‘aviation tactical pause’, for go, no-go decisions, with the 90 aviation service providers Fire and Emergency hold contracts with.

“An aviation tactical pause helps to improve situational awareness by considering all factors before a flight. Fire and Emergency personnel, as well as pilots and operators, will benefit from honing this skill more finely for fire emergencies.”

Proper use of s13A¹

Jason says pilots and operators need to think carefully about the use of section 13A of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 to breach aviation rules to fly in an emergency.

“Section 13A is primarily for unexpected events. Perhaps you’re a pilot being called on to help because you happen to be flying near a sudden emergency. That’s where s13A can be justified.

“Even then, there are only very specific circumstances in which you can use s13A. And the law is more restrictive if the emergency situation already exists before you take off. Make sure you understand the differences.” (See More information at the end of this article).

Jason says emergency services “should have sufficient risk processes and resources to deal with most emergencies safely, without the need to breach the rules on a regular basis”.

Tasking agencies (such as Fire and Emergency) have no legal power to direct operators or pilots to use s13A to fly during an emergency, Jason says.

“Operators and PICs shoulder most of the responsibility for making a flight that may require a s13A report. What tasking agencies can do is coordinate and communicate the information the operator and pilot need to decide whether to fly.”

This should include the extent and nature of any threat to life and property, and the available alternatives. Pilots may need to proactively seek this information from tasking agencies.

Using monsoon buckets

Jason says it’s also timely to remind pilots of the rules for carrying underslung firefighting buckets.

“There have been several helicopter accidents in New Zealand associated with firefighting operations, some of which were fatal. Many of these occurred while using firefighting buckets. Another serious but non-fatal accident is believed to have been caused by a malfunctioning bucket, which resulted in an emergency landing and the bucket being urgently jettisoned.

“Two separate CAA investigations in the last two years found that pilots flew with firefighting water buckets over congested areas while attending fires. They both contravened rules in Part 133 Helicopter External Load Operations when the s13A requirements were not satisfied.

“Inadvertent helicopter external load releases are regularly reported to the CAA,” Jason says. “A fundamental safety requirement is that an external load should not be flown over people.”

The rules say a helicopter PIC conducting an external load operation must take reasonable care to ensure the flight is conducted at a height, and on a route that allows the load to be released, and that the helicopter lands in an emergency, without creating a hazard to people or property on the ground.

This general emergency requirement goes further than the Part 91 requirement to consider only engine failures. Emergencies that are relevant to external load operations include those in section three of your aircraft flight manual, and those covered by licence and operational syllabuses.

We want everyone to come home safe

“We know wildfires are dynamic and unpredictable. They can evolve quickly and change due to wind, topography, fuel type, fire behaviour, and other factors,” Stephen Bishop says.

“Everyone involved in a response has the same goal. Ultimately, we want everyone to come home safe at the end of the day.”

More information

Vector Online: The proper use of s13A

Footnotes

¹ From 5 April 2025, this moves to sections 15 and 16 of the Civil Aviation Act 2023.

Photo courtesy of Fire and Emergency New Zealand