RFT 516: Aerial Fire Fighter Chris Doyle

Chris Doyle and his wife Maria have been working in Colorado since 2009 doing agricultural aerial application and formed CO Fire Aviation in 2014, they have a 4 year old son, Patrick, and a 2 year old daughter, Sophia.   Chris first started flying lessons at 14 years old has 27 years of aviation experience. He has been a commercial pilot for 22 years, with vast international experience, including SEAT flying in Australia, Indonesia and the United States. He has amassed more than 10,000 accident free hours of which the vast majority has been in the SEAT aircraft.    Chris has FLIR and NVG experience from flying Air Tractor 802’s armed with laser guided weapons in the military environment as a test pilot in the Middle East for 3 years. He is multi engine instrument rated and is a Certified Flight Instructor for fixed-wing aircraft and also has more than 1,000 hours of commercial rotary wing time. He is an Air Tractor factory certified instructor for the purpose of endorsing new pilots to fly the 802.   As with other programs he has been involved with, he has a passion for research and development of new techniques and methods to progress with the times, and the SEAT program is no exception.   Chris has been responsible for developing company checklists and Training manual. He managed and was the primary Level 1 pilot for our new additional operations base in John Day Oregon in 2016 where he developed company polices on location. He has mentored and overseen the development of 7 Level II pilots of which all have become or gained the experience to become Level I.   Aerial firefighting along with safety have always been his main passions. With this passion and knowledge, he along with partner Kyle Scott formed CO Fire Aviation to combat the increase in wildland fire activity. They are a professional and dedicated aviation company whose sole purpose and focus is to provide Aerial Fire Suppression to any community in need of assistance.   With headquarters located in Des Moines, Iowa, VREF has expanded to Illinois, California, Idaho, Florida, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, and China.