Northwest Aerospace News October | November Issue No. 5

Members of the Boeing Intl. Assn. of Fire Fighters Local I-66 undergoing training at the Washington State Fire Training Academy in North Bend, WA. W ildfires are an ever-present dan- ger for many in the West, damaging millions of acres in Washington, Ore- gon, Montana, Idaho, and California every year. Fire crews in these states spend much of the summer battling blazes all across the region with the help of defense products such as the Boeing CH-47F Chinook and Insitu’s ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The ScanEagle UAS can “fly the gaps,” meaning it flies at night and over dense smoke, when typical manned aircraft may be grounded due to conditions hazardous for pilots. Insitu’s ScanEagle3 can be used for wildfire monitoring, maritime surface searches, disaster response, and as a communications relay. When not responding to wildfires, the local, state, and federal officials guard- ing our public lands must also protect hikers and backpackers. Military aircraft, capable of operating in austere environments like Afghanistan, allow them to do that even in high-alpine environments. This summer, rescue workers from the Oregon National Guard deployed a CH-47F Chinook helicopter re- sponding to a climber trapped near the summit of Oregon’s Mount Hood. The Boeing-made Chinook was the sole platform able to perform a pinnacle landing, with only its rear wheels set- ting down to safely execute the rescue in deteriorating conditions. These capabilities aren’t limited to U.S. first-response agencies. Canada recently deployed a fleet of aircraft, including three Chinooks, to support United Nations officials on a peace- keeping mission in Mali. The Chinooks were specially modified to perform medical evacuations in potential threat environments amongst hostile conditions. The Dutch Air Force also deployed Chinooks seven times this summer to fight wildfires in Europe. This “flying fire brigade” just helped extinguish a blaze in the Netherlands and Germany to combat a growing German wildfire. Such incredible rescue and disas- ter response missions wouldn’t be possible without aerospace workers in the Northwest and the rest of the United States. Only a limited number of complex airplanes and rotorcraft are capable of operating in such challeng- ing environments, with lives on the line, and they all carry the “Made In America” tag. Learn more at: www.watchusfly.com OCTOBER | NOVEMBER 2018 ISSUE NO. 5 19

Northwest Aerospace News October | November Issue No. 5 | Page 19