National Park & Wildlife Helicopters Hover Over Griffith

The National Park and Wildlife Service’s (NPWS) helicopter and aircraft fleet fly into Griffith next week where more than 30 pilots and aircrew will hunker down for a week of training.

NPWS Director of Flight Operations, Grant Simpson, said the remote location of many of NSW’s national parks meant the Service relied on its own fleet of choppers and fixed-wing aircraft to carry out essential maintenance and fire management.

“Each year we bring the entire NPWS flight team together for mandatory training and mentoring, and Griffith Airport with its facilities and big skies is the perfect base for these exercises,” Mr Simpson said.

“Ensuring safety for our staff, including 1,200 professionally trained firefighters, is NPWS’ top priority and this training brings us up-to-date with our certification while providing practical experience through real-life simulations.

“Training is conducted both on the ground and in the air, with a focus on sling operations for practising heavy load lifting, essential for some of our most remote visitor infrastructure projects.

“We also practice water bucket operations where pilot and aircrew train to collect and precisely drop up to 800 litres of water as part of hazard reduction activities and bushfire fighting.

“Winch practice is also vital as we regularly fly experienced personnel into extremely remote and challenging terrain for firefighting, conservation and other operational purposes,” Mr Simpson said.

Griffith Mayor, Doug Curran, said he was happy to have NPWS personnel in Griffith for this important training.

“I’d like to welcome them all to Griffith and hope they enjoy their stay and the use of our aerodrome and facilities,” Mayor Curran said.

“Having this type of training take place in our area has an economic benefit of course, but also benefits those being trained including local representatives which would also benefit the community if an event were to occur.”

The annual NPWS aircrew training will run out of Griffith Airport from July 17 to 21.

For more information on NPWS’ firefighting, conservation and infrastructure work, visit the NPWS website: https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/about-npws/what-we-do.

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• Emergency Services