NEWS & UPDATES
I’m very pleased to announce that we will be resuming BLACK OPS flight operations at our original location at Sydney Airport from the 12th November 2021. Please note that initially, it will be limited availability with a focus to try and prioritise existing passengers who have patiently waited during the Delta lockdown period. As we progress throughout summer and into 2022, we will aim to advance to normal levels of service as soon as possible.
If you had an existing booking from during the Delta lockdown period (25/06/21>), can you please email your availability for all Saturdays & Sundays. Important: Please include your name in the subject field of the email.
On a personal note, I’m very excited to be flying passengers again over one of the World’s most iconic Cities in our unique MD500E HELICOPTER! Thank you to everyone for their continued support of my business and for being so patient! Ramp up, Go Black Ops! – We hope to see you soon. Regards, Mark Fitzsimmons (Owner/Chief Pilot: BLACK OPS).
Working with a local NSW company and FLIR Systems, we have developed a new firefighting camera system for our MD500E helicopter.
It has the capability to capture both VIDEO & STILLS (in a 90 degree arc) & transmit off both cameras to the IMT (Incident Management Team) and even individual mobile phones to personnel on the fire-ground (plus other flight crews in flight) if required. It also has the ability to lay down FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) & Optical images directly onto FireMapper in real time and/or send images/video to any device. It can also simultaneously send KMZ files directly to Avenza in real time.
The system has been designed to dramatically increase situational awareness for the flight crew and provide real time information to the IMT. It requires only a 5 minute briefing in its use and operation for RFS/NPWS personnel. The camera system has integrated FIREMAPPER & AVENZA systems running in the background and has multiple other uses that increases safety and improves real-time fire intelligence & reconnaissance gathering. A big thank you to Konrad from Australian company, Fire Front Solutions who greatly assisted with the development of the system..
Keeping up with our clandestine “Black Ops” operational style, we now have a mobile office!
Giving us the capability to operate from anywhere where our MD500 helicopter can be landed, “The office” gives us a fully operational command base to be able to brief mission participants and operate our business from!
With solar power, 12 & 240 volts, air conditioning, fridge, espresso machine, TV and seating it’s a great working environment & serves as a very effective mobile advertising billboard when it’s out on the road or parked up on non-operational days!