411A: and everyone else here..
I quit flying firebombers because the bureaucracy within government had taken complete control of decision making and policy for aerial fire supression.
To continue working under their system would have required me to compromise my self worth by becoming one of them, this I could never do.
Thirty years ago private enterprise contracted to government for aerial fire suppression, we actually performed the job that we contracted to do...we put out the fires before they had a chance to become uncontrollable. We performed this task by the very simple method of initial attack as soon as there was a report of a possible fire.. We also understood how to effectively attack and supress forest fires.
I quit in 1986 because by that time almost all aerial fire suppression had come under the umbrella of government employees, they can only do one thing very well and that is build and protect an ever expanding bureaucracy.
You are now blessed with the end result.
Stupidity, Arrogance and corruption of what was once a very proud and professional industry, aerial fire suppression.
Accidents such as we have just witnessed on T.V. are not only tragic but in the grand scheme of things today just another example of good people trying to do the almost impossible... Protect the public and the forest from forest fires.
Truly tragic.
Cat Driver:
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The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no.