Above: The IL-76 on the ramp at Santiago, Chile January 30, 2017. Photo by Tom Parsons.
While the 747 air tanker is taking a day off in Chile for maintenance the Russian IL-76 went to work about 9 hours after arriving at Santiago early Monday morning. FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft (RA76841) flew to and concentrated on a point northeast of Concepción near Portezuelo, an area that has had fires in recent days. As this is written at 4:08 p.m. Chile time it appears to be returning to Santiago at 15,000 feet and 343 mph.
Radar track of the IL-76 in Chile, January 30, 2016.Today Tom Parsons and Marcos Valdez, pilots of the 747 air tanker, swapped tours of their aircraft with the crew of the IL-76 before the Russian air tanker took off on a fire mission.
Pilots Tom Parsons and Marcos Valdez (L to R) in the cockpit of the IL-76.
