Fred Celest sent us these photos he took from Tanker 873. Thanks Fred!
The Single Engine Air Tankers were returning from the Lee Creek Fire in Montana on July 9.
The middle plane in the formation is T-803 with pilot Matt Lutz. The third plane is T-855 piloted by Matt Jurgensen. All three planes are with New Frontier Aviation out of Fort Benton Montana.
Photo from T-873 of T-803 on the foreground and T-855 in the background. Photo by Fred Celeste.
3 Comments
I’m a federal aerial supervisor and I can tell you the DC-10 can do basically everything the smaller tankers can do. If you will need 4 tankers, the DC-10 can do that in one and ends up being much cheaper. Add in that you don’t have to wait for all 4 to show up or load and return and you have a faster chance to catch the fire when it’s small enough to catch. Larger availablility cost is offset by just one fire that you catch. Bring in the type 1 team and add up the millions per day. I’d love to have the 747 out there as well.
Alright! Let’s drop all SEATS and replace them with VLATS! I was just a ground pounder when TBMs were “seats” but I’d venture to say that a SEAT can do/accomplish things that a multi-engine aircraft can’t and …. vice versa, of course. What is that … “Penny wise, pound foolish?” A well stocked toolbox is the key.
Agreed. Toolbox is the key.
Initial Attack is another key.
Willing to send a DC-10 on a 5 acre start?
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