Water Bombing Fires
07-15-2021, 08:03 AM
#1
Water Bombing Fires
Pictures of water bombing operations in recent years for fighting fires with current water bombers poses a question -
Are there now more retired jetliners being used because upkeep and maintenance of what used to be used - WWII through Vietnam-era aircraft - is becoming more difficult?
Thanks for any help here -
Edit: Title of thread to identify particular operation is probably a misnomer; Re-thought and realize a chemical rather than water is used in many cases.
Are there now more retired jetliners being used because upkeep and maintenance of what used to be used - WWII through Vietnam-era aircraft - is becoming more difficult?
Thanks for any help here -
Edit: Title of thread to identify particular operation is probably a misnomer; Re-thought and realize a chemical rather than water is used in many cases.
Last edited by H5606; 07-16-2021 at 03:16 AM. Reason: Chemicals are probably used instead of water -
07-16-2021, 08:26 AM
#2
We've got fires all around us right now. T
he planes we are seeing are the prop planes that scoop water from the river. !st pic. We have had the jets you're talking about too but the terrain is pretty mountainous so the smaller planes work better. The large jets drop a red clay based slurry. There's a bunch of the little pontoon planes flying too. Not seen these before. They skim the river and fill the pontoons with water to drop on the fire line. Haven't seen a DC 7 for quite a few years. They're what we used to get on our fires. The last photo is just a stock photo of a jet like you're describing.
he planes we are seeing are the prop planes that scoop water from the river. !st pic. We have had the jets you're talking about too but the terrain is pretty mountainous so the smaller planes work better. The large jets drop a red clay based slurry. There's a bunch of the little pontoon planes flying too. Not seen these before. They skim the river and fill the pontoons with water to drop on the fire line. Haven't seen a DC 7 for quite a few years. They're what we used to get on our fires. The last photo is just a stock photo of a jet like you're describing.
Last edited by Big Alice; 07-16-2021 at 09:55 AM.
07-17-2021, 07:57 AM
#3
The jet I saw pictured on one of those news pages looked like a DC-9, MD-80, Fokker 100, or something similar with the rear mounted engines -
Difficult to tell but do you know if that second picture above (red chemical drop) is of a BAE 146?
Thank you for your response and pictures on a sensitive topic and to those on the front lines protecting whoever's property or lives are in danger.
Difficult to tell but do you know if that second picture above (red chemical drop) is of a BAE 146?
Thank you for your response and pictures on a sensitive topic and to those on the front lines protecting whoever's property or lives are in danger.
07-17-2021, 09:04 AM
#4
I don't know what the plane making the drop is. He was working on a fire a couple miles down river a couple days ago. A friend who used to work at the airport filling the retardant in the planes told me it is a clay based slurry that coats everything so it won't catch fire easily. Might have some fertilizer in it too. This photo is of where they fill the smaller planes in the river pretty much in the center of town. We get these fires every year so it's nothing new. Incredibility hard, dangerous work.
Last edited by Big Alice; 07-17-2021 at 11:45 AM. Reason: another pic
