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DC-10 aiding in wildfires
Two of my favorite things...planes and firefighting. DC-10 coming in for a fast and amazing fire retardant dump out west. Credits go to the author. (www.liveleak.com) עוד...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Good old DC-10 and some nice flying. Seems he missed the target, though. Maybe the plan was to blanket the next ridge with retardant. But mostly, don't they usually target the fire base?
Roger, actually the best plan is to drop ahead of the fire. As the name implies, it is a Retardant, not an extinguisher. As a Smokejumper, I was on the ground for a lot of Retardant drops, although in those days the B-25 was about the biggest thing we had. If the guys dropped directly on the fire the result was often pink powder hitting the ground after the water had evaporated out- not too effective. Occasionally if we were having trouble getting around the head of a fire they'd give us a load right on it to knock it back so we could get around it. Wasn't a Pilot then, but seemed like they dropped lower on those runs.
Makes sense. Some fires are very hot that it would be a waste of resources. Thanks
Depends on the choreographer and the fire boss. Not much of a chance to stop it short of the ridgeline. They may have been laying down a line to slow it once it hit the ridge. Take a look at the vdeos of C-140's on the Ridge fire North of Yosemite last year. Great work by the lead plane.
The DC10 fly's right over my house to land, and right over my office to takeoff. I'm talking I can wave at the pilot low. They take the long route to takeoff, but use a dive bomber approach. This was an old A-10 base, and I think these pilots think they're still flying the warhogs. It's taking 1 hour to fill, take-off, drop, return, and refill. They can use the DC10's when the fire is climbing up hills or cresting, but have to use smaller planes in the canyons. I have pictures if anyone wants them.
Who do you think if going to pay the cost of the aircraft, when they are contracted to the Forest Service et al ?
Do you really expect them to not make a profit?