Tag: air tanker

This year for the first time Israel will have access to a squadron of air tankers. They have contracted with two private companies, Elbit Systems and Chim Nir Flight Services, who purchased seven Air Tractor AT 802 single engine air tankers after submitting a joint bid to the Ministry of Defense.

The government of Israel saw the need for air tankers after the disastrous Carmel fire last December which burned for four days, claimed 44 lives, forced the evacuation of nearly 17,000 people and consumed 8,650 acres of land and natural forest.

Israel asked for and received air support help from many nations for the Carmel fire, including the United States which dispatched four MAFFS C-130 air tankers, but they were cancelled while still en route after the fire was controlled. Over 30 firefighting aircraft from Europe and North America responded. Israel also contracted for Evergreen’s 747 Supertanker which made two sorties dropping retardant on the fire.

Two of the seven Air Tractors will be on floats and can scoop water from the Mediterranean or the Kinneret. The Israel Air Force will have operational responsibility for the firefighting squadron.

Here is a video of Air Tractor 802s in Portugal. And in case you wonder about the music, it is “Into the Fire” by Thirteen Senses. If you watch it until the very end, you’ll see that the 802 has reversible props, which surprised me, making it possible for it to back into a parking spot.

OOPS!

From Bigcountryhomepage.com, reported by Tim Johnston:

The Texas Forest Service sent out workers with fire trucks, but not to put out flames. This time it was to wash off fire retardant that the TFS admits was accidentally dropped on a North Abilene neighborhood.

According to the TFS, the plane was heading for a fire, but had to cancel the flight because of the cloud cover. The Forest Service explains that their tankers are not allowed to land with a cargo full of the retardant. So the course of action is to release it onto an approved drop site.

However, Sunday afternoon the TFS says the plane’s pilot accidentally released roughly 300 gallons of the pinkish fire retardant from roughly 1,000 feet in the air.

The accidental drop was mainly kept to the blocks just east of North Judge Ely, and most of Westheimer Street was covered.

Calls came in to bigcountryhomepage.com that “pink stuff was raining down out of the sky.”

“As it came over this area, he [the pilot] punched the wrong button, and about 300 gallons of his load came out,” explained Lewis Kearney of the Texas Forest Service.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service immediately began to hose off the cars and other property that was covered in retardant.

“I heard something from in the house, and all of a sudden I saw them spraying my car, and I was kind of freaked out because I wasn’t sure what had happened,” said Sarah Ray, whose car was freshly cleaned by the TFS.

It reminds me of when air tankers flew out of Ontario airport in southern California a few decades ago. There was one lady who lived near the end of the runway who frequently complained about the noise from the huge radial engines on the air tankers. One day when a tanker was taking off it had a mechanical problem and had to drop the load of retardant in order to increase their chances of returning to the airport and landing safely–which it did. But guess where that retardant landed. Correct, and the lady was not happy. Soon after that, air tankers stopped using Ontario as an air tanker base.

Oh, and there was the time that the Alpine (California) Fire Department’s official Chief car got hit with retardant when he was at a fire and the Chief put in a claim to the U.S. Forest Service for several thousand dollars so he could repaint it. The claim was denied.

I ran across this video which contains simulations of air tankers flying and dropping on fires. There must be a couple of dozen models of air tankers, dating all the way back to the C-119. Somebody put a great deal of work into this; it must have taken hundreds or thousands of hours to design the aircraft and the retardant dropping.

TankerGuy72’s YouTube page where this was found has a link to a Simulated Air Tanker Operations Facebook page which has some clues leading one to believe that Microsoft Flight Simulator X is involved. It makes my head hurt to try to figure out how someone did this.

The four C-130 Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) air tankers that were dispatched to Texas have been mostly sitting on the tarmac at Dyess Air Force Base in Midland. Since they were mobilized from their bases in Wyoming, North Carolina, and California on April 18 the military air tankers have made a total of one drop, consisting of 3,000 gallons of retardant. Texas Governor Rick Perry requested aerial firefighting assistance from the federal government about the time that the recent fire siege was declining, as more humid air moved into the state.

The two MAFFS air tankers mobilized from Colorado on April 16 to help fight the fires in Mexico that are now 30-40 miles south of the Texas border have been a little busier, making 8 drops for a total of 24,000 gallons of retardant or water. They are working out of Laughlin Air Force Base which is about 60 miles from the fires in Mexico. The MODIS fire detection maps have shown no large concentrations of heat on these fires over the last six to seven days.

Another Red Flag Warning issued for the area of the Rock House fire

A red flag warning was in effect for Sunday for strong winds and low humidity, and another one was issued for Monday and Tuesday in the area of the Rock House fire and the Davis Mountains for “extremely critical high impact fire weather conditions on Tuesday”. Due to fire activity, lack of reliable communications, and firefighter safety, the crews on the Rock House fire Saturday had to back out of the canyons in the Davis Mountains to seek gentler terrain. Today that strategic retreat remains in effect. Dozers cannot be used on the steep slopes and aerial resources have been ineffective. Yesterday the fire continued to move (see the red areas on the map above), making some significant runs on the west side of Madera Canyon.

The Rock House fire has burned 215,275 acres and is 75% contained.