Bristow Academy Inc., a division of Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE:BRS), today announced it will offer a new course for helicopter pilots on wildland fire operations and suppression. Taught by qualified wildland fire instructors, the class is scheduled to begin October 3, 2011.

Entitled “Wildland Fire Orientation for Rotary Wing Pilots,” the six-day course will give helicopter pilots, both current and prospective, basic knowledge of fire behavior, wildland fire operations and the role of helicopters in fire suppression and prescribed burning.

Students will participate in two modules developed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG): S-190 Introduction to Fire Behavior and S-130 Firefighter Training. Graduates will receive NWCG recognized certificates.

Students also will be introduced to the theory of helicopter operations in wildland fire with time spent in field conditions gaining first hand experience of fire fighting techniques on the ground. They will learn the requirements for contract wildland fire pilots, air operations procedures, safety concerns specific to wildland fire air operations, duties they may be called upon to perform, and methods of carrying out their assignments safely and efficiently.

Bristow Academy, located in Titusville, Florida; New Iberia, Louisiana, and Gloucester (UK), is the only helicopter flight school approved to provide helicopter flight training to commercial pilot level by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Joint Aviation Authority. The Academy trains students from helicopter industry or related companies and pilots from a wide variety of foreign and domestic government agencies. For more information, go to http://www.bristowgroup.com.

Editor Note – We contacted Bristow Academy as we felt the press release above was unclear as to whether there was any flying element to this course.  They responded “This 6 day course will cover only theoretical knowledge and some hands on practical training in field conditions.  If there is enough interest in adding some bucket flight training we will consider this down the line as the second part of the course using a Bell 206.”