Canadian company Dart Aerospace has received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from the Federal Aviation istration (FAA) for use of the SkyCannon system on the Sikorsky Black Hawk. Now, the UH-60 will be able to use equipment developed to fight skyscraper fires.
"This revolutionary firefighting system raises the bar for urban firefighting efforts and solidifies DART's leadership position in the aerial firefighting equipment market," said Steve Ghaleb, Vice President of Business Operations for DART.
“While originally requested by an Asian customer for firefighting efforts in dense city centers, operators of other aircraft types have begun to ask about it. It is our mission to meet the needs of our customers and we are pleased to now offer the SkyCannon® on the UH-60/S-70 in direct response to a specific customer request."
The SkyCannon was designed to enable firefighting on the highest floors of skyscrapers. A DART Fire Attack Tank, a tank with a capacity of 3217 liters, is installed in the cabin of the Black Hawk. The SkyCannon is installed on the right side of the fuselage. It is a lance that extends 1 meter beyond the diameter of the rotor, which fires a jet of pressurized water.
The Black Hawk also gets an infrared camera and range-measuring equipment to fight fire accurately. The entire system can be installed and removed from the helicopter in just 30 minutes. The tank can be refilled from any body of water through a snorkel, similar to the S-70 Firehawk, forest fire fighting version.
See more: S-70 Firehawk: the Black Hawk firefighter
The certification also makes the Black Hawk the third rotorcraft capable of operating the SkyCannon. The equipment was already used on the Airbus H225 Super Puma and the Avicopter AC313.
DART worked closely with Nevada-based Skydance Helicopters to flight test and certify the SkyCannon on the Black Hawk. “At Skydance, we are often at the height of wildfire season across the West, so we are excited to be working with DART on the expansion of the SkyCannon system”, said Skydance president Peggy Cain.
“We were very impressed. This system has the potential to make a considerable impact in the firefighting market and for other firefighting operators in the helicopter industry.”
With dart aerospace
