CROTONE – From May 18th the Civil Protection Department has deployed one of the most powerful firefighting helicopters in the world at Crotone airport. This is the Erikson S-64 helicopter supplied to the Fire Brigade. From the May 25th, after having carried out all the necessary technical checks, the vehicle will be operational and will remain in Crotone until the winter. Its presence reminds us that the base of the civil protection air fleet will have to be transferred to the Crotone airport as foreseen in Cis Flying presented in October 2022 to the Calabria region by governor Occhiuto and the sole administrator of Sacal, Marco Franchini. A 20 million euro investment through which the Canadair currently located in Lamezia Terme should also be based in Crotone from 2025.
The presence of the Erikson S-64, called ‘flying crane‘, is important for the protection of the territory in the fight against fires. Its versatility is fundamental for firefighting interventions, especially in our area: in fact, through a cannon positioned in the front it is possible to carry out very precise and targeted actions. L’Erickson Air Crane S-64 it is a twin-turbine helicopter with a six-bladed rotor. On the ‘flying crane’ as the helicopter is called due to its strange shape, a tank of approximately 8,031 liters can be installed for water with the possibility of inserting retardant liquid and 290 liters of foam (foaming agent) to be used for aerial firefighting .
The reservoir fire fighting device has 8 different filling and release levels and can power a water cannon. The load can be launched during a single pass in three seconds. The continuous strip, whose dimensions vary according to the speed and height of the launch, covers a length of approximately 500 m. Alternatively, the load can be launched fractionally with quantities adjustable by the pilot.
Filling takes place via a flexible suction tube (pond snorkel) with pump, or via a second fixed tube with fin at the end (sea snorkel) which loads using the translation speed of the helicopter at 1/2 meters from the water level . The 9000/10000 liters of fresh or salt water in the tank can be loaded in 45 seconds in both ways and has an autonomy of 2.15 hours in flight.
The vehicle has a lifting capacity greater than 4,000 kg up to altitudes of 3,000 metres. In December 2006, an Erickson Air Crane S-64 transported a gigantic fir tree over 34.5 meters long and weighing 95 quintals from the Gariglione forest in Sila to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to make it the Pope’s Christmas.
