Videos of air tanker drops

SEAT drop video
SEAT drop video
A screen grab from a Marc Mullis video of a single engine air tanker drop near Junction, Texas

I ran across some very interesting videos shot by Marc Mullis, a single engine air tanker pilot. He uses a Contour video camera and has posted on the Contour site about half a dozen videos of him making drops on wildfires. The videos I saw, shot from the cockpit, had audio of the radio conversations and at least one of them which was recorded on a fire near Junction, Texas has a display showing the GPS track. Pretty high-tech stuff. An excellent way to spend a few minutes on a winter weekend.

Typos, let us know HERE, and specify which article. Please read the commenting rules before you post a comment.

Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

7 thoughts on “Videos of air tanker drops”

  1. Marc,
    If you ever have some time, it would be great if you could discuss how to effectively communicate with you all up in the air. Any time we on the ground get to hear and see your perspective from up there is invaluable! Keep up the great work. Thanks for being there when we need you!

    0
    0
  2. Hey Marc. Great videos. If you have some on YouTube, I could embed them here, but I can’t embed the versions on the Contour site.

    Keep up the good work.

    0
    0
  3. Hey Bill;
    Your site is the best, thanks for posting my videos, there will be more to come in the soon to be 2012 season.
    Marc

    0
    0
  4. For the people coming up in the wildland fire world and will be working SEATS, these videos are a great way to learn how to direct them. Here is a great video with commentary from the pilot: http://youtu.be/Q09XpzuriUA
    Many of us work with helicopters often, but tanker drops come a bit less often. Great video!

    0
    0

Comments are closed.