Still image from AIRAILIMAGES video.Frederick Johnsen sent us this video he shot at the Modular Airborne Firefighting System training and certification that was held last week. The military C-130s and lead planes were flying out of Jeffco Air Tanker Base in Colorado. The event was sponsored by the US Forest Service and included classroom sessions, flying and ground operations for Air Force aircrews, civilian lead plane pilots, and support personnel from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and other state and federal firefighting agencies.
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Isn’t about time that the MAFF program (Forest Service) go back to the a “drawing board” and design a MAFF III that really makes a difference? The MAFF I system which discharge through dual aft nozzles seem to work.
Why do you think the dual aft nozzles was better? That system resulted in much more retardant on the horizontal stabilizer and fuselage. It also prevented the aircraft from being pressurized.
Drawing board for what? MAFFS II has been super effective and still one of the best options (precision, cleaning and maintenance, pressurized delivery, multi mission capabilities, lower costs, etc….) The new systems are also solid improvement over the original design. I’d love to see a MAFFS III someday that continues to improve on the platform maybe with new types of aircraft.
Back to drawing board for what? MAFFS II has been super effective and still one of the best options (precision, cleaning and maintenance, pressurized delivery, multi mission capabilities, lower costs, etc….) The new systems are also solid improvement over the original design. I’d love to see a MAFFS III someday that continues to improve on the platform maybe with new types of aircraft.
I-MAFFS, which was basically a MAFFS 2.5, was in development for about 6 years. Many safety improvements and some performance improvements. The program was put on hold 2 years ago. I hope it gets restarted soon. The design was mostly done and two prototypes were under construction. It is far more difficult to get a system designed and built that flies on a military aircraft than on a civilian aircraft. The regulations and approval processes are intense.
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