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Tag: Martin Mars

Martin Mars approved by USFS to fight fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

On Saturday the U.S. Forest Service finally certified the 7,200-gallon Martin Mars air tanker to work on fires for the agency. After a seven-hour flight from Canada on July 12, it flew several check rides on Friday and Saturday. It will be based at Lake Elsinore in southern California.

Here is an excerpt from an article at Fire Department Network News:

A Canadian-registered Martin Mars water bomber and its sophisticated spotter helicopter were officially certified Saturday as “Mission Ready” by the U.S. Forest Service for battling potential wildland fires in the Angeles, Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forests.

Owner Wayne Coulson, of Coulson Flying Tankers, told FDNNTV his crew flew several “check rides,” or test missions, late Friday and then again Saturday morning with USFS observers on board.

The vintage aircraft made practice, thirty-second long, water scoops on nearby Diamond Valley Lake then, as Coulson described the maneuvers, “roared around” a mountainous section of the San Bernardino National Forest for monitored 7,200 gallon target drops.

At the same time Coulson’s new Sikorsky S-76 electronics-filled chopper successfully demonstrated its ability to lead the Martin Mars into fire zone target areas while video taping and relaying aerial observations of water drops back to Forest Service incident commanders on the ground.

Coulson said, “It was a 100-percent successful familiarity performance for Forest Service personnel who now know how best to deploy the two aerial firefighting aircraft when needed.”

Martin Mars contracts with USFS

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags
Martin Mars air tanker refilling at Lake Shasta, 2008

The Martin Mars air tanker, which saw service last summer in northern California during the Seige of ’08, has a new contract with the U.S. Forest Service.  The 7,200 gallon air tanker will be based at Lake Elsinore, California  from June 1 through November 15, 2009 with an option to renew for two additional years.

Coulson Flying Tankers, who owns the ship, has invested $500,000 in new instrumentation for the plane and for thermo-imaging equipment for the Sikorski helicopter which will serve as a “bird dog”, or lead plane as it is termed in the United States.  The helicopter will collect thermal images of the fire which can be transmitted to a ground station.

This contract means the ship, named Hawaii Mars, will not be available during this period for fighting fire in British Columbia where the company is based.

Coulson has a second Martin Mars, named Phillipine Mars, which was not used in the United States last year, but the company is nogotiating to put it under contract in Australia.  There will be a crew of 20 in rotation in California, and if the second ship finds work down under, the company will need to train additional people to work with the Phillipine Mars in Australia.

Martin Mars reloads

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Martin Mars scooping
Hawaii Martin Mars scooping water at Lake Shasta.

I wonder what kind of wake the Martin Mars creates when it skims along a 3-mile stretch of Lake Shasta filling its 7,200 gallon tank at 80 miles per hour? It probably makes the lake a little choppy for the water skiers for a few minutes.

Always film posterOn Friday, it did this 20 times, reloading about every 25 minutes, dropping the water on the nearby 16,700-acre Motion fire. That is a damn good turn around time for an air tanker. The pilots have the option of dropping plain water on the fires, or mixing class A foam or fire retardant gel into the water.

Do you remember the opening sequence in the 1989 movie, the Steven Spielberg production with Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman that is centered around air tanker pilots? Turn up the sound when you play the 55-second clip below….it’s more fun that way.

One of the lines in the movie is still food for thought for firefighters.  John Goodman said to Richard Dreyfuss:

Pete, there ain’t no war here… And this is why you’re not exactly a hero for taking these chances you take. You’re more of what I would call a dickhead.

Some trivia about the movie, from Wikipedia:

The movie is set in the Kootenai National Forest in Montana, with some scenes filmed in and around Libby, Montana. Some 500 people from Libby were recruited for the movie as extras to act as wildland firefighters.

In the opening scenes the forest fires were created by Pathfinder Helicopter Inc.. They were hired by the Forest Service to burn some clearcuts near Libby that were filmed for the movie. The helicopter Pilot was Steve Tolle and the Ground Crew Manager was Jim Leighty.

The Libby airport was used to double as the Forest Service Headquarters in the movie.

California: Martin Mars on Lime Complex

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

The Martin Mars air tanker, which holds 7,200 gallons, made 5 drops on the Lime Complex and the Motion fire on Tuesday. It scooped the water out of Lake Shasta. Aerial firefighting in northern California has been very limited for the last 2 days due to poor visibility caused by smoke from the fires.

A total of 8 MAFFS air tankers, C-130’s from the military, are now assigned, working out of McClellan near Sacramento.

Martin Mars Drop
The giant Martin Mars water bomber drops a mixture of gel and water it scooped out of Lake Shasta on the Motion Fire Tuesday evening. Jakob Schiller.

Martin Mars lands at Lake Shasta

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

The third time proved to be the charm for the Canada-based Martin Mars air tanker. After having engine problems on Friday and Saturday, it successfully completed it’s 4-hour trip to Lake Shasta north of Redding, California this morning. It will stage there until it receives an assignment, which will likely occur today, visibility permitting. On each mission it can drop 7,200 gallons of water, Thermogel, or water mixed with foam concentrate on a fire and then will refill it’s tank by scooping water from a lake.

Wildfire Today covered the saga of this aircraft earlier, here and here.

Martin Mars Shasta
The Martin Mars anchored on Lake Shasta, June 29. It has already been outfitted with an American flag and a USFS decal. Photo courtesy of ShastaLake.com.