New Minnesota-built technology aims to better protect pilots fighting fires

At a hangar in St. Paul, Minnesota, engineers at Momentum Aeronautics are building Heatwave, a new generation scooping float system designed to make one of firefighting aviation's most dangerous jobs safer.

"Every pilot who's flown airplanes always has a story of how they got somewhere they didn't want to be and they just barely got out of it. And they never want to put themselves there again," said Dan Garrett, president of Momentum Aeronautics. 

The floats are mounted on Air Tractor firefighting aircraft.

"(The) scoop opens, creating a place for the water to come in. As the water comes in, it goes through a tube, comes out this and goes straight into the tank," explained Garrett.

Aaron Vince is chief pilot at Coastal Air Strike, which flies the aircraft on wildfire missions under contract with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He says the redesigned scoop system gives pilots smoother handling on the water.

"It scoops a lot faster, but the safety factor with the way the scoop is designed versus the other scoop system is just a lot more manageable," said Vince.

Each run can pull in up to 800 gallons of water in seconds at speeds of 90 miles per hour.

"As the aircraft lands, it's as light as it's going to be. Then it takes on an extra 6,000 pounds of water and then it has to accelerate and get back off the water," said Garrett.

For Garrett, seeing the Minnesota-made system now fighting real fires is the payoff.

"Having an opportunity to see something that you dreamed up on a whiteboard, you drew up on a computer screen, actually come to life and be used in the real world is pretty, pretty valuable," said Garrett.