For years, especially in the summer, Canadair and Air Tractor aircraft have been taking off from and landing on the runway of the Croatian Air Force’s 93^rd Air Base at the Lt. Col. Mirko Vukušić Barracks in the village of Zemunik in Central Dalmatia. Among the pilots who have passed the runway the most times and thus accumulated more than 3,000 flying hours are three Canadair CL-415 captains: Lieutenant Colonel Damir Jurišić, Major Ivica Markač and Major Željko Maljak. These veteran pilots speak of their jobs, careers and achievements unpretentiously and humbly, hardened by numerous fires they have flow into and extinguished.

They are Canadair captains, and flight instructors, and test pilots. “We love this job. If that were not the case, we would have given it up a long time ago. It is a great, humanitarian job. It is difficult to explain how good, how happy one feels when one returns to the base after having flown for hours and hours, after having spent days above a fire site, after having dropped hundreds of fire bombs on a great fire. One is exhausted, but aware that one has saved somebody’s house, somebody’s life,” say the pilots unanimously at the start of the interview.

Majors Maljak and Markač were among the first Croatian pilots to build their career on Cansdair aircraft. They enrolled into pilot school and were flying on Pilatus aircraft when a need for pilots on Air Tractors appeared. They applied for and completed the training on Air Tractors, which they flew for a year before being transferred to Canadair aircraft. Unlike the two of them, Lieutenant Colonel Jurišić immediately transferred from Pilatus aircraft to Canadair aircraft because the Croatian Armed Forces did not own any Air Tractors in 1997. Speaking of his beginnings on Canadair aircraft, he says: “I was cadets’ flight instructor. There was a great need for Canadair pilots, so I converted and quickly realized that was the right job for me. I have been flying Canadair aircraft for the last 22 years. The three of us are the only members of the Croatian Armed Forces who still fly the old Canadair Cl-215 aircraft with piston engines, which were in use before the current Canadair aircraft with turbojet engines,” says Lieutenant Colonel Damir Jurišić and reveals: “In order to be a Canadair pilot, you must have flying experience, you must be mature and you must know you limits. If you have these qualities, you will enjoy this job. For me, it is the best job in the Croatian Air Force.”

An important part of the veteran pilot trio’s work is the training of novice pilots. Major Željko Maljak says: “Experienced pilots come to Zemunik, but flying a Canadair is something else. New experiences are constantly being acquired; even fully-formed pilots have to learn a lot here. Our job is to help them with that.” Major Maljak continues: “We work round-the-clock. We are on call for firefighting tasks 365 days a year. Fires occur all the time: on New Year, on Christmas Day, in early spring. Those fires may not be as visible or as interesting to the public as summer fires, but we are ready and called to put out fires all year long.”

Major Ivica Markač is a test pilot with the most flying hours. Although all three collocutors are test pilots, Major Markač has been performing that duty for more than ten years. He outlines the details of that aspect of flying. “I am a test pilot with the longest tenure. The job can be full of surprises. Once a year, Canadairs go through a scheduled overhaul in Velika Gorica. Afterwards, it needs to be determined whether they function impeccably. The objective is to return fully serviceable aircraft that can put out fires without failure.”

Major Ivica Markač, Canadair Captain

“This job is a lifestyle. We have learnt to combat fire and fly into it. We distinguish the so-called sporting fires, which can be put out with 10-15 water bombs in a few hours, and fires that one has to fly into and combat for a few days before they are extinguished. When we return to our base after having put out such a great fire, we are proud of ourselves, tired and pleased that we have gained the upper hand over the fire.”

Lieutenant Colonel Damir Jurišić, Canadair Captain

“At 57 years old, I am the oldest pilot in the Croatian Air Force. I have been flying Canadair aircraft for 22 years and I love this job. A fire breaks out and I fly out, extinguish it in three or four hours and return pleased with what I have accomplished. Extinguish a fire requires team work, it is a joint struggle. Our firefighting colleagues on land know relief is coming when Canadairs appear.”

Major Željko Maljak, Canadair Captain

“We have been doing this job for more than 20 years. Usually, one stay at this job until retirement or the end of one’s flying career. The pilots’ job entails life-long learning and acquisition of new experiences. One never ceases to learn. We are the oldest ones in this base and, in spite of our vast flying experience, every flight is a chance for us to learn something new. The public’s perception that Canadairs and their crews fly only in the summer is an erroneous one. Canadair aircraft fly year-round. In winter period, we train novice pilots, which is an important aspect of our success.”

Text by LADA PULJIZEVIĆ

Photo by MLADEN ČOBANOVIĆ

Translation by IVA GUGO