LSA Used For SAR, Ground Support

A fire department located at 8,300 feet above sea level in the Ecuadorian Andes has acquired a Flight Design LSA as its aerial support unit. Supported by John Hurst and Jeremy Endsley of Sebring Aviation, the Basin Fire Department began operations at the Mariscal La Mar airport.

Equadoran Firefighting CTLS

Hurst and Endsley traveled to Ecuador to train fire department employees in assembly, maintenance, and flight training of the CTLS. The group operating the LSA is called the Air Volunteer Fire Department of Basin. "Using the CTLS in this way, our Fire Department has an effective tool to help in search functions, recognition and support of ground operations by providing a better service to the community of Cuencana," said Fire Department leader Hugo Cobo.

Cobo said the decision to buy the CTLS was made after studying different information of other aircraft manufacturers including experimental, LSA and other general aviation. He determined the CTLS was the only aircraft that meets the safety operation and performance requirements for the Fire Department. Besides the low cost acquisition and operation made the CTLS our choice for search and ground support operations.

The CTLS is the first and the only aircraft to be used in all the Fire Department operations including search and ground operations support. Cobo estimates that the airplane will be flown about 25 hours per month, considering that there are months in the wild fire season that the CTLS will have a greater use.

The fire department's pilots received 5 hours of training at Sebring and approximately 5 hours of training in Cuenca. "We find this very helpful because the training is not that long and this time assures a good training for a safe operation," Cobo said. "The aircraft will certainly improve the Fire Department´s response capability giving more and better information about different emergencies we will be dealing with. As the Cuenca´s Fire Department supports other Fire Department´s in the region and nationwide the CTLS will be a helpful tool we can depend upon."

FMI: www.flightdesignusa.com