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#31
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"Krztalizer" wrote in message ... | | Was flying a C-54E up until the forest service tanker massacre last week. | | Hopefully it will be fixed and I will have a airtanker pilot career of more | than 3 weeks duration. | | | Ron, I was thinking about you when I heard the decision to ax all the old | firebombers in the fleet. Any word yet on how soon they will replace them, or | how they will provide qualified pilots for the "new" firebombers? That 747 | firebomber is freakin' amazing. | | Good luck in the future. | v/r | Gordon Is the 747 firebomber a serious proposition ??????? I first thought it was a Photoshop fantasy - then a proof of concept - but is it actually something that sober people are actually doing the numbers on ? Cheers Dave Kearton |
#32
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Ron, I was thinking about you when I heard the decision to ax all the old firebombers in the fleet. Any word yet on how soon they will replace them, or how they will provide qualified pilots for the "new" firebombers? That 747 firebomber is freakin' amazing. Good luck in the future. v/r Gordon The contracts were cancelled after the NTSB published a report saying that there was not a system in place to assure airworthyness, and the Forest Circus took that to mean they are the ones liable if anything goes wrong. The western governors are up in arms, and congress might work on some kind of emergency measure to bring the FAA into it somehow for some kind of inspection program that they sign off on. The planes have been inspected heavily over the past 2 years, and are probably safer than anytime since they came out of the factory. The planes are not grounded, we flew them back to the home base, they could still be hired by states if they want. but I am optimistic something will be soon soon to bring them back in operation. As for that 747 system, thats an evergreen project, with some rumors of homeland security funding. They are tanking up some additional planes now too apparently, so I kinda suspect something fishy might be going on there. I was out your way 2 weeks ago out of San Bernardino. Flew on a fire on camp pendleton, temecula, riverside, and others during that busy week there. The fleet has to be replaced soon, and hopefully forest service and congress will help, because at the low ball rates the FS pays, they only maintain the planes they have. 50 hours in the C-54 and hoping for more! Ron Tanker 65, C-54E (DC-4) Silver City Tanker Base |
#33
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Is the 747 firebomber a serious proposition ???????
I first thought it was a Photoshop fantasy - then a proof of concept - but is it actually something that sober people are actually doing the numbers on ? Cheers Dave Kearton They have an aircraft tanked up, and have done lots of drops. I think there are some situations that it can be good in, but I can think of a whole lot of others too it might not be that great. However, a lot of the concerns expressed about it being too big, were also said when the B-17 was being introduced into forest fire work. Ron Tanker 65, C-54E (DC-4) Silver City Tanker Base |
#34
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Sigh ....
True on both counts. Let's overlook the last (unmentioned) criterion. R / John "John R Weiss" wrote in message news:h_Tpc.63391$iF6.5578946@attbi_s02... "Krztalizer" wrote... R / John (former fighter guy Oh, blarney. John, there is no such thing as a 'former fighter pilot' and you know it. You'll have fangs to the day you die. ...not to mention a big watch. :-) |
#35
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"Ron" wrote in message ... Ron, I was thinking about you when I heard the decision to ax all the old firebombers in the fleet. Any word yet on how soon they will replace them, or how they will provide qualified pilots for the "new" firebombers? That 747 firebomber is freakin' amazing. Good luck in the future. v/r Gordon The contracts were cancelled after the NTSB published a report saying that there was not a system in place to assure airworthyness, and the Forest Circus took that to mean they are the ones liable if anything goes wrong. The western governors are up in arms, and congress might work on some kind of emergency measure to bring the FAA into it somehow for some kind of inspection program that they sign off on. The planes have been inspected heavily over the past 2 years, and are probably safer than anytime since they came out of the factory. The planes are not grounded, we flew them back to the home base, they could still be hired by states if they want. but I am optimistic something will be soon soon to bring them back in operation. As for that 747 system, thats an evergreen project, with some rumors of homeland security funding. They are tanking up some additional planes now too apparently, so I kinda suspect something fishy might be going on there. I was out your way 2 weeks ago out of San Bernardino. Flew on a fire on camp pendleton, temecula, riverside, and others during that busy week there. The fleet has to be replaced soon, and hopefully forest service and congress will help, because at the low ball rates the FS pays, they only maintain the planes they have. 50 hours in the C-54 and hoping for more! I hope you enjoyed them.....I know I did in the Rescue versions we flew, and I hope you have many more. She's almost as good and forgiving a bird as the gooney, an earlier Douglas contribution to aviation history. George Z. |
#36
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I hope you enjoyed them.....I know I did in the Rescue versions we flew, and I hope you have many more. She's almost as good and forgiving a bird as the gooney, an earlier Douglas contribution to aviation history. George Z. I certainly have enjoyed it, although I think those mixtures are certainly in an inconvenient place for the copilot. Those douglas series 4/6/7 planes are really well built. The four has 2 wing spars and a backup in case that fails. The main complaint I have about the 4 is that it is really underpowered. They fixed that in the 6 and 7. My captain took a SA-7 hit over Africa in a DC-7, made it back to the airport. Ron Tanker 65, C-54E (DC-4) Silver City Tanker Base |
#37
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I was out your way 2 weeks ago out of San Bernardino. Flew on a fire on camp pendleton, temecula, riverside, and others during that busy week there. That area is such a tinderbox, I believe it will be keeping firefighters in business forever. :\ Thanks for helping - sure not looking forward to late summer here. I'm betting you'll be invited back. v/r Gordon |
#38
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Is the 747 firebomber a serious proposition ??????? Dave, would I ever lie to you? no comments, all the rest of you bums out there. G |
#39
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"Krztalizer" wrote in message ... | | Is the 747 firebomber a serious proposition ??????? | | | | Dave, would I ever lie to you? | | no comments, all the rest of you bums out there. | | G Coupla years ago we had a pair of Canadairs (415s IIRC) on a demo tour, during our fire season. The positioning flight was free - just pay the hours on duty. The distributors just didn't understand that $27M per airframe can buy a whole lot of smaller and more useful planes. Every now and again they give it another try, maybe they have too much money. Our fires are generally different than yours, no lakes, no really large dams and the nearest refilling point is at least half an hour away. A dozen airtrucks with 1,800L on board is cheaper than one plane with 6,000L. Here, the major fires are fought with helos and 'cab ranks' of smaller planes lining up for a run and then going off to an empty field to land and top up. Cheers Dave Kearton |
#40
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Our fires are generally different than yours, no lakes, no really large dams and the nearest refilling point is at least half an hour away. A dozen airtrucks with 1,800L on board is cheaper than one plane with 6,000L. Not uncommon to see a variety of bombers working multiple fires in a relatively small geographic area. Looks like hell in a bowl. Worst part is ashfall, knowing each fleck floating down is the remains of a 80 year old tree or someone's bedroom furnishings. I hate that aspect of socal living. yfG |
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