OPERATIONS AND DEPLOYMENT Photo: Grant Duncan-Smith


From the first of November to the end of May, LEA operates from Stellenbosch Airfield near Cape Town.


During the winter (June through October), LEA fights forest fires in the Lowveld and Escarpment areas from its base in Mbombela.


LEA’s Black Hawk entered service in South Africa in March 2018, while its Huey has been actively fighting fires since 2006.


Heavy-lift operations include:


• Transporting construction equipment • •


Relocating rhinos Recovering aircraft wreckage


The company and pilots have extensive experience including relief operations in Mozambique (floods), Zimbabwe (Cyclone Idai) and Pakistan (earthquakes).


KEY PARTNERS


NCC Wildfires provide ground crews to support aerial firefighting efforts across South Africa’s Western Cape Province.


Photo: Rayno Snyman 84 May/June 2025


Effective wildfire management requires coordinated efforts between helicopters and ground crews. NCC and LEA have partnered to ensure resources are deployed to the fire line more efficiently, allowing firefighters to be inserted into generally inaccessible areas and obtain an overhead situational awareness of a fire’s behavIor. Without ground crews, the helicopter’s firefighting effectiveness is greatly reduced. Likewise, a lack of water to assist ground crews working in remote areas makes containment much harder and, at times, more dangerous. Putting these two resources together makes for highly efficient and effective firefighting.


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