Challenge, but Capable


Baumann explains a challenge for RAVEN that’s common to many fleets: “The biggest weakness we are running into is that we have older helicopters and we are getting lower on parts.”


However, the helicopters themselves are still very capable. “In comparison with other helicopters, we still have the power to climb up Mount Rose, which is over 9.000 feet. We are able to sit there and hover! Some aircraft can’t do that,” Baumann says. “Our Hueys are modified to the Huey II standard having basically the AH-1 Cobra engine, T12 transmission, Bell Strake Kit, and BLR’s FastFin system. With RAVEN 3 we also have the composite rotor blades, which gives us another hot-and-high power aircraft to operate at higher altitudes during hot weather conditions, and it also has the global rotor compensator. Another change is a new tail-rotor kit that moves the rotor from the left side to the right, making it a tractor or puller-style rather than a pusher-style anti-torque system. It gives more power and pull. For the size and the ability, it is sometimes more capable than some of the newer helicopters. However, it is all hands on. We don’t have auto-flight systems like auto hover. It is not stabilized, so it is quite intensive flying. It is basically a work truck. RAVEN 7 still has the metal main-rotor blades with


62 May/June 2025


a Bell 212 tail rotor blade. RAVEN 3 has a Bell 204 rotor blade with a global compensator. We have more tail rotor authority on RAVEN 3 than we do with the 212 rotor blades, although both Hueys have almost the same tail-rotor authority. I have never lost tail-rotor authority when we have been up, even working on higher altitudes, so they both do a good job.


“When we go into the mountains, you have to read the wind because one side of the hill can be different than the other side of the hill. The winds swirl around. We get 100 degrees here and even in the summer we have no problem going into the mountains we have around here up to 14,000 feet. In the summertime, if we have to pick up extra load when people get injured, we watch our tables and check everything before we go to make sure we have enough power to go in and do the hoist. If not, we might have to offload,” Baumann concludes.


Sgt. Fisher says that RAVEN has to sometimes barter to remain fully equipped. “We do some horse trading. We work with other agencies, even regionally here, to kind of swap parts for things that we have a lot of and they would need, and if they have something we need. We do all kinds of stuff to keep the program rolling.”


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