"BUFDRVR" wrote...

96 tons of water!!!!!

The hell with that, how about 400' AGL and only 140 KIAS?

OK. I don't know where you saw 140 knots (I skimmed tie site, and didn't
notice it). Numbers are for a -400, but -200 numbers should be similar:

Call it 159 tons of airplane and 96 tons of water for ZFW of 255 tons. For
a short cycle (2 hours airborne, plus reserve) try 35 tons of fuel, 1/3 of
which has already been burned. GW at beginning of drop is about 280 tons.

VREF for flaps 25 is 158 KIAS, so 170 KIAS is about the slowest I'd want to
try. That is also the number given in a story in the Portland newspaper
this morning.