Ozbusdriver,
the most damage was on that bad Saturday. There were spots that a big machine could have worked but the bulk of them it could not. For two weeks after that day there were something like 8 fixed wing and 4 medium choppers just working out of Latrobe. These machines were working maybe 20 different fires and many more individual points on these fires. From Wilsons Prom in the south to Dargo in the north to stuff on th SA border there was machinery operating. How many big machines should be used? What cost would you say is too much to pay? The current fleet is a compromise of big and little. There are jobs that skycranes are good for and there are jobs that fixed wing are suited to. Now there is a choice of a big machine, it has limitations like all the rest of the fleet and I'm sure the Airdesk know that.