Farewell Firewatch Cobras

According to Fire Aviation, After 19 years, the U.S. Forest Service has ended the operations of their Firewatch Cobra helicopters. The two Bell Cobras, N107Z and N109Z, were retired after their last flight on Saturday 16 October 2021.

The Firewatch Cobras were retrofitted Bell AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters. For their job of fire observation, they were overhauled and converted with infrared and low light sensors and systems for real time fire monitoring.

N107Z, former 83-24194 (c/n 22342) and N109Z, former 69-16422 (c/n 20854) were two of the 25 that the U.S. Forest Service acquired from the US Army.

Most of the other 23 had been stored at the aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson (AZ). A couple used for spare parts have in the past been parked outside the hangar at the Redding, California airport. Despite this, it seemed that it had become increasingly difficult to find spare parts for the Vietnam War-era aircraft which were manufactured 38 and 52 years ago.

The Department of the Interior and the Forest Service have decided to seek new ways of aerial surveillance, partly by switching to more modern helicopters and partly by using more fixed aircraft to serve broader areas.

At the same time Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) programs have been developed to reduce risk and hazards to firefighters both in the air and on the ground. The drones can fly at night and in visibility conditions that can ground piloted aircraft.

The two Cobras served the Forest Service for nineteen years and reached their maximum lifespan after flying approximately 7,600 flight hours with the Cobra program.

Photos: Kevin Cleynhens and Bill Gabbert