Wow!!! Those guys are something else.
Jim [cptn]
Stay Safe.
Wow!!! Those guys are something else.
Jim [cptn]
Stay Safe.
Wow [:O]
They have to fly an airplane that big, well, because, you know, they’re too big to carry in anything smaller.
I had no idea big jets were used for firefighting.
Wow.
They have gone to the 747 and 10’s because the WWII airframes of the past are just flat worn out and too expensive to keep in the air. Add in several crashes and aircrew fatalities because of airframe fatigue, and parts availability.
BTW. That was a perfect drop
We’ve watched them recently flying out of the. Colorado Springs airport supporting the fires here in the state.
I recently watched the DC-10 fight a fire in Big Sur.
Cal Fire is the biggest fire fighting organization in the world.
The Dept. is well led and stocks up on the latest equipment/ resources. The big jets are independent contracts, but the latest additions to the fleet of state aircraft are C-130s.
They can roll on the tank and dispersal equipment through the tail.
I’ve watched the Hercules make multiple drops in a single flight.
Being close to a fire line (9 miles) and watching the air assets go in is impressive.
Remember; California controls 3% of the forests in the state; the Fed 57%.
But Cal Fire fights them all.
Bill
Been a few years ago, but at least a couple of the early 130 conversions went down on the pull up after the drop due to wing stress on older original airframes. IIRC those were “A” models.
My lady showed me a facebook video the other day of a jet drop shot over a house…almost nailed the camera person.
This is an older clip, but it’s about as close as it gets (language warning for the last second) Change of underwear required before RTB.
Wow!!! That’s about as close as it gets.
BK
I’m a big fan of CalFire, living socal. We had a 17k acre fire 2 weeks ago and had 8 tankers fighting it including a dc10 and 747 which flew back and forth over my house at about 4000 feet. Quite a show.
Well…O…K… It’s confirmed. Tanker pilots are crazy buggers! But I have a question: I’ve understood that jets, unlike propeller aircraft, cannot accelerate quickly and can quickly come to grief because their engine can’t “spin up” to get them out of trouble as quickly as reciprocating engines. If so, low-altitude runs in hilly terrain would seem to be almost suicidal. My understanding must be wrong, because many big jets are now being used in fire suppression. Can someone please enlighten me?
Bob
The jet my have a spool up issue however when it drops tons of retardent the jet, even props from a former mech, tend to jump UP in altitude requiring pilots to remain in a level flight situation throughout the drop.