The DC-10 delayed by a tropical storm and a maintenance issue is expected to arrive in Australia the evening of January 23 local time
Continue readingDeployment of two air tankers to Australia delayed by fog and a volcano
A C-17 from Australia hauled extra tires, an engine, and an APU from Arizona to Australia
Continue readingTwo MD-87 firefighting airtankers will deploy to Australia
This will bring Australia’s fleet of large air tankers up to 11 for the 2019/2020 bushfire season
Continue readingAustralian Prime Minister says four more large air tankers will be ordered
Two of them will be DC-10s
Continue readingTwo found dead in Kangaroo Island Fire in South Australia
More air tankers from North America will be be sent to Australia
Continue readingAir tanker en route to Australia turns back due to radio problem
A DC-10 has been activated to assist with bushfires in Australia
Continue readingImpressive video of downhill drop by DC-10
Saturday evening on the Long Valley Fire north of Reno
Continue readingRecord-setting day at Helena Air Tanker Base
Twelve firefighting aircraft worked out of the base supporting the North Hills Fire
Continue readingVideo shot from above a DC-10 dropping on the Pole Creek Fire
The fire eventually burned 120,000 acres south of Provo, Utah
Continue readingImpressive video of DC-10 drop
A DC-10 dropping on a fire, possibly in Idaho. Screen shot from the BLM video below.The video below was tweeted by BLM Idaho July 13, 2019 but they did not say when or where it occurred. It may have been at the Ridgeline Fire 5 miles northeast of Albion, Idaho the same day.
#BLMTFDFire evening fire update visit:https://t.co/WLpfk6gqkH pic.twitter.com/lvVx4rk6IC
— Bureau of Land Management Idaho Fire (@BLMIdahoFire) July 14, 2019
It is interesting that the lead plane was much lower than the DC-10. If the tanker had dropped at that height it would have been an extremely low drop and the retardant would have been rapidly moving forward when it impacted the ground. Maybe the lead was low to give the following air tanker pilot a better 3-D perspective of what piece of ground it was over when they released smoke or said “start here”, and they have already agreed on the drop height.