The attached news release regarding the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFs) training in southern CA, May 5-9, went out to all Angeles NF media contacts today.
The MAFFs training will involve Air National Guard Units from around the U.S. doing practice water drops in designated areas, or "drop zones" on the Angeles and Los Padres NFs. The C-130 Hercules will be leaving from the California Air National Guard Station at Port Hueneme. Notably, the aircraft will be dropping water and not fire retardant. Basically, this is important practice for the military pilots (and our own aviation staff) involved in this program that we sometimes activate during fire season.
So how does this affect us ? The training begins on May 5; however, the actual drops over the Angeles will occur during daylight hours on May 6-9. Four of the 7 drop zones are on the Santa Clara-Mojave Rivers RD (see pg. 2 of release). Each of the drop zones are generally in more remote, infrequently visited areas that are difficult to access. Also, there will be a lead plane guiding the tankers in and getting a visual on the area ahead of the drops. If there are any issues in the drop zones, they can simply abort the drop and go to an alternate zone. Despite these mitigations, our visiting public and permittees in the vicinity of these areas may be curious about what is going on. Neither the LARRD or the SGRRD have drop zones, although the high country of the LARRD may experience some low-flying aircraft north of Hwy 2. One important point of clarification: There is a drop-zone in the training called "Buckhorn," which is located on the Los Padres NF. This is not to be confused with our Buckhorn CG, which is several miles from any of the drop zones.
Background on MAFFs:
http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/aviation/fixed_wing/maffs/index.html
