" Also, they don't drop water on fires. They drop retardant, it's
reddish colored goo that gets everywhere on the plane behind where it
drops
out.


What????? We will have to tell them to stop putting all that water in them
'thar tankers.

For your information, the "goo" that comes out is a combination of (don't
hold me to exact figures) about 99% water and 1% retardant. It is much like
firefighting foam, and is best described as a wetting agent, like soap. The
red is there to aid in spotting where the load went, and help in spotting
for the next load, or to see if more is to be needed there.

There is no way a 747 could be made to work economically.

You don't have a good grip on the economics of large tracts of timber, do
you? The biggest reason big planes are not as good, is like has been
mentioned, refill time, but more importantly, the tight canyons and such
that a big plane would have a problem with. You have to get pretty low for
the drops to work the best.

Sorry if this post is attributed to the wrong person, but you all know who
it is for.
--
Jim in NC






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