The use of aerial means in firefighting is undoubtedly a powerful tool that allows the use of speed, the ability to progress in areas without access, the capacity to extinguish in the direct attack, combined with extreme versatility and agility, especially in rotary-wing aerial means (helicopters). Objectives: The use of helicopters demands a very accurate management and the correct use of the assets. That is crucial to achieve a good performance, avoiding tasks that could be contrary to extinguishing the fire or even cause serious accidents. This work appoints specific needs of aerial forest firefighting and the safety limitations by systematized knowledge, including operational failures that can be used as lessons learned to improve the management and use of these resources. Method: In this article we applied the inductive method making use of the real cases scenarios to study and identify failures in the use of these assets to improve the efficiency of combating forest fires, as well as improving the safe and the management of these resources. Results: It is recommended that operators and management discuss the set reflection on the following topics, how firefighting maneuvers with helicopters should be managed when we have teams on the ground working nearby; Taking measures and caution when the fire’s behavior can suddenly change due to internal or external factors, such as the indraft of air of an helicopter, the deployment and recovery of heli-transported teams; the use of rotary-wing aircraft in moop-up activities; and the use of devices on the aerial means that can interfere with operations including best way to attach them/ safely and the best way of performing the maintenance or of upgrading it.