Pilot training and the Bambi Bucket
As noted earlier, Bambi Bucket buyers and their personnel can visit SEI headquarters and receive training, as well as learn about other SEI Industries products that may be applicable to their jobs.
The U.S. Forest Service also requires 1,500 hours of training before pilots can fly on fires. Pilots must have specialized training on flying sling loads and operating Bambi Buckets, too.
The pilot operates a switch mounted on the cyclic or collective to deploy the Bambi Bucket. Military operators have a Bambi operator who controls the bucket from the back of the helicopter with hand-held controls while communicating with the pilot.
Technology changes and updates
Like Tayler, Engineering Manager Mark Toeckes (P.E.) has been with the company for 18 years. He started designing for the Bambi Bucket product line in 2009.
There have been many updates to the Bambi Bucket throughout its four decades, but two are especially worth noting, Toeckes said.
“The major technology thrust in
recent times has been the integration of
sophisticated electrical control systems to provide additional features to the buckets. While the end users want more features, they also want the product to be simple enough for them to operate and maintain,” he said.
Another big change has been the increase in the average size of wildland firefighting helicopters and therefore Bambi Buckets, especially over the last five years, Toeckes said. “Twenty years ago, the most popular bucket size was 120 U.S. Gallons (USG), while now it is 320 USG and sales of 2,000 USG buckets are commonplace. Often the technologies don’t simply scale up to larger sizes, and different ways of doing the same job need to be invented.”
SEI Engineering Manager Mark Toeckes at the Bambi assembly area.
A Royal Netherlands Air Force Chinook hauls a 2,000-gallon Bambi Bucket.
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July/Aug 2022
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