Where Are the Jumbo Water Tankers?

[FLOJO]

heres what it looks like when the c 130 drops

[squirt'nmyload]

heres a little story about us
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by Staff Sgt. David Bartlett
Portland, Ore.
photo by Master Sgt. Val Gempis
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"Ready ... Ready ... DROP!"
On this intercom command, the co-pilot on the flight deck and the loadmaster in back push separate buttons sending 2,700 gallons of fire retardant shooting through two large tubes poking out the back of the C-130.
When the red retardant billows out of the aircraft and onto the flame-filled brush and trees below, the huge Hercules jerks in the air, noses up slightly, and turns back to base.
Chalk up another sortie in the air war against California's wildfires. Who are these aerial firefighters? Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard crews flying C-130s fitted with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems.
Two C-130s from the 302nd Airlift Wing's 731st Airlift Squadron at Peterson AFB, Colo., and two from the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Islands, worked throughout August with U.S. Forest Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection air tankers and ground crews. Their task: fighting some of northern California's lightning-caused fires, which first lit up the landscape Aug. 11.
The C-130s arrived Aug. 13 and immediately began flying. "I've been doing this for a long time," said Tech. Sgt. Bob Mitchell, a loadmaster with Peterson AFB's 371st Airlift Squadron. "Every fire you see is different." As one of the first loadmasters trained and certified by U.S. Forest Service fire-fighting specialists, Mitchell has been flying airdrop missions for 10 years.
"Sometimes when we make a drop, I can actually feel the heat [in the back of the aircraft's cargo bay] from the flames," Mitchell added. "It gets kind of wild when that happens."
"It's a double reward for the crew members," said Lt. Col. Clyde Doheney, a California Air National Guard C-130 pilot with the 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Islands. "Not only do we get to fight fires right here in our own state - our own backyard - but we get to help out the Forest Service and the ground firefighters as well."
The MAFFS system, a series of five pressurized tanks and two tubes installed in each aircraft, can hold 25,000 pounds (2,700 gallons) of fire retardant or water. When released from the tanks through the tubes, the resulting spray stream can cover an area approximately 100 feet wide and a quarter-mile long.
But before the C-130 can make a drop, its counterpart has to show the pilots where the retardant is needed.
Like some kind of aerial ballet, a lead plane flies over the fire area to show the C-130 exactly where to place the retardant. Then, flying only 100 to 150 feet above the flames, and sometimes lower, the C-130 releases the retardant.
"The lead plane orients us to the drop area," said Staff Sgt. Rob Beres, a loadmaster with the 731st Airlift Squadron. "Once we get a visual reference, we go in and drop."
Beres and Mitchell both flew aboard plane No. 5 -- affectionately labeled "Dumpy Old Men." Each of the four MAFFS airplanes has its own name. A giant, orange, single-digit number painted on the tail and fuselage makes identification easy and immediate during missions.
The retardant is just as easily identified.
In its wet and ready-to-drop form, retardant looks like tomato juice and feels like slime or mucous. The dry, concentrated retardant is delivered from the contractor in 2,000-pound bags. The chalk-like compound is mixed with water and pumped into a series of 24,000-gallon holding tanks. Underground hoses connect the tanks to a servicing area where ground crews pump the mixture into the airplanes when a mission is ordered.
From the staging area at Redding Municipal Airport, Reserve and Guard C-130 crews had flown 168 sorties and dropped 529,300 gallons of retardant on five major wildfires in California and Oregon by Aug. 24.
That same day, fresh, replacement C-130 crew members - -who arrived the day before -- flew missions against a new 200-acre fire at the Hoopa Indian Reservation in Humbolt County, about 120 miles west of Redding. The Air Force crews' efforts focused on the 82,980-acre Fork Fire, which was contained with the help of Army ground crews from Fort Carson, Colo.
"Most of the fires were started by dry lightning," said Harry Martin, a fire prevention specialist with the Sonoma Lake Napa Ranger Unit. "Dry lightning is a weather phenomenon that happens when thunderstorms fail to yield rain.
"California had an extremely busy fire season this year," Martin added. "By Aug. 23, we responded to more than 145,000 acres of wildfire, which exceeded the total acreage for last year. And at that point, we were just over halfway through the fire season."
With continuing help from Guard and Reserve crews and their specially equipped Hercules aircraft, California's forests won't suffer from burnout.
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very interesting to read....i'm assuming the "jerk" just feels like some turbulance???? i'd need a barf bag!!!

[lawbreaker2]

It's all BULLSHIT.

[BajaMike]

Part of the problem is that the Forest Service aircraft are public use, maintained differently than aircraft maintained under FAA Regulations.
Plus all the political behind the scenes b.s., always about who is going to pay for what.
Huffpower is right. I used to provide spotter planes, transports, and air ambulances to the U.S. Forest Service and the Cal Div of Foresty. Both have their own certification process for both aircraft and pilots, and it takes a lot of work to get certified. They don't even look at the FAA certification (sort of like military pilots don't need to have FAA pilots licenses...but most do have them....they get them on their own).
I would think those large transport aircraft (DC-10 and 747) must jump through a lot of hoops to be certified.
And the private contractors don't want Reserve and Guard aircraft used because it sucks revenue from them....it's a tough compromise they have to come up with. But it's often and life and death matter, so I say, send in the military guys!!
:idea:

[Wake Havasu]

Anyone now anything about the Russian tankers?
http://www.tristesse.com/~keith/airshows/water1.jpg
http://il76.quickseek.com/
The Il-76 waterbomber is a VAP-2 1.5 hour install/removal tanking kit conversion. It has stirred a decade's controversy in the West at a time where more powerful firefighting assists are needed.
The Il-76 can carry 11,000 U.S. gallons (41,600 liters) of water; three times the capacity of the C-130 Hercules.
While the Australasian Fire Authorities Council says the Il-76 is a "very, very good firefighting aircraft", and while Canada awaits a U.S. decision, the matter hit U.S. local television in Denver in 2004, apparently calling for a public interest decision from Americans themselves.

[LUVNLIFE]

very interesting to read....i'm assuming the "jerk" just feels like some turbulance???? i'd need a barf bag!!!
I believe the jerk upward is from the sudden unloading of the 2700gallons of retardant.

[burtandnancy]

So while 5 firefighters get burned to death, untold millions of dollars worth of peoples homes and property are lost, we've got C130's, DC-10's and 747 parked while someone tries to figure out what paper work and permits should be handled. Thats the trouble with government that has grown too big, it no longer working...

[Not So Fast]

I agree with whats said here 100% but I thought they said the reason for so little air suport was because of the high winds that made it too dangerous in this particular fire? NSF

[dirty old man]

NSF, over here we see videos of a lot of choppers in the air, some dropping water and some taking pictures. Don't tell me a C-130 or DC-10 can't make a pass

[Beer-30]

All good info, but.....
They should just use the water out of Elsinore. Then, the hillsides would be green again after each drop. :boxed: