Last summer, when Texas was having the worst of the drought, a pilot spotted my cousin’s house in a wildfire, pinpoint dropped a load of water on the house and prevented it from burning. That’s good flying in bad conditions.
Hats off to those folks.
Aw, man…I want THAT job!
They are the bravest of the brave.
In a former life I fought a fair share of wildfires and we always appreciated the raw courage of the firebombers. Only time I didn’t appreciate it was the time one ofem missed the release point and dumped a load on my head…man did that hurt!
I made a wrong turn in life. I now know what I should have wanted to do…
Takes big brass ones to do that more than once, too. As a former firefighter, I can testify that it’s addicting – and those guys have it bad. That’s good for the rest of us. 🙂
can we call these, “water blower’ hops versus the sandblower type? Would love to see how the water pickup gate works!! Canadair ??
Dayum … that was worth the wait to see!
That was absolutely amazing.. holy crap ! Thanks !
One of the helicopter pilots that comes out to support our launches does that kind of flying. Can’t lift nearly as much flying a Bell 212 as that one, but every DROP helps!
I saw some reality TV show last year about some Canadian Co. selling these planes to an European buyer and it included some of the ferry flight with them.
That’s pretty cool!
@Murphy’s Law: Not for me. That’s a bit too close to the cumulogranite for my heart.
I remember watching news footage of a particularly bad fire in California a couple years ago, the DC10 firebomber was rolling in. Bird settles down below the ridgeline, is out of view for about a second, and then jumps straight up above the ridge when the pilot hits the pickle switch…
Jess- Concur!
Murph- LOL, figures!!!
WSF- that they are!
GFA- Water is STILL not compressible, even when air dropped…LOL
Ed/Rev- They’re adrenalin junkies!!!
Ev- Yep
Johnnyreb- Ain’t it though!
John- You’re welcome!
drjim- yep!
Anon- Cowboys all, regardless of what country! 🙂
Andy- it is!
Scott- Yep, at 14lbs per gal, dumping DOES affect the flight characteristics a ‘bit’… 🙂
Last summer, when Texas was having the worst of the drought, a pilot spotted my cousin’s house in a wildfire, pinpoint dropped a load of water on the house and prevented it from burning. That’s good flying in bad conditions.
Hats off to those folks.
Aw, man…I want THAT job!
They are the bravest of the brave.
In a former life I fought a fair share of wildfires and we always appreciated the raw courage of the firebombers.
Only time I didn’t appreciate it was the time one ofem missed the release point and dumped a load on my head…man did that hurt!
I made a wrong turn in life.
I now know what I should have wanted to do…
Takes big brass ones to do that more than once, too. As a former firefighter, I can testify that it’s addicting – and those guys have it bad. That’s good for the rest of us. 🙂
can we call these, “water blower’ hops versus the sandblower type? Would love to see how the water pickup gate works!! Canadair ??
Dayum … that was worth the wait to see!
That was absolutely amazing.. holy crap ! Thanks !
One of the helicopter pilots that comes out to support our launches does that kind of flying.
Can’t lift nearly as much flying a Bell 212 as that one, but every DROP helps!
I saw some reality TV show last year about some Canadian Co. selling these planes to an European buyer and it included some of the ferry flight with them.
That’s pretty cool!
@Murphy’s Law: Not for me. That’s a bit too close to the cumulogranite for my heart.
I remember watching news footage of a particularly bad fire in California a couple years ago, the DC10 firebomber was rolling in. Bird settles down below the ridgeline, is out of view for about a second, and then jumps straight up above the ridge when the pilot hits the pickle switch…
Jess- Concur!
Murph- LOL, figures!!!
WSF- that they are!
GFA- Water is STILL not compressible, even when air dropped…LOL
Ed/Rev- They’re adrenalin junkies!!!
Ev- Yep
Johnnyreb- Ain’t it though!
John- You’re welcome!
drjim- yep!
Anon- Cowboys all, regardless of what country! 🙂
Andy- it is!
Scott- Yep, at 14lbs per gal, dumping DOES affect the flight characteristics a ‘bit’… 🙂