B747 Firebomber- What the .....

[wessex19]

Watching SBS news last night in a half awake state and thought I was dreaming when I saw a Evergreen International B747 classic conducting firebombing runs!! Went to there website today and confirmed it wasn't a dream. Comments Jumbo drivers..
http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertanker/index.html

[Woomera]

Yup. Covered on Sky News as well.

100,000 liters capacity - ten times the capacity of "Elvis" the Sky Crane!!! :ok:

Woomera

[Buster Hyman]

The mind can only wonder at the stresses involved on the airframe. Now, I'm no structural expert by any stretch of the imagination, but after seeing the footage of that C130 coming apart....:ugh:

[cascade07]

Hope they're quick on re-trimming the plane after dropping that much water....:eek:

[NAMPS]

I was looking at the Evergreen website link...I'm glad I wasn't the guy taking the photo from underneath the a/c while it was beginning it's 'bombing run'!!

[phat boy]

I'm glad I wasn't the guy taking the photo from underneath the a/c while it was beginning it's 'bombing run'!! YEAH ! ! Me too ! ! ! :rolleyes: Hope they're quick on re-trimming the plane after dropping that much water :rolleyes: :hmm:
One hopes they thought of that already. This is the yanks we're talking about not the indians.

[18-Wheeler]

.... and thirty minutes to get it going as quickly as possible from a cold start, and close to an hour to refuel and get the brakes cool again.
Then find an airport with the appropriate re-watering gear close enough, etc.
With all the manoueverability of a three story building!

[Flyingscarecrow]

Footage of the C-130 coming apart can be found at www.airdisaster.com Not rcommended viewing, i've never been too comfy at low level or in turbulence since! As a side note, the Herc was an ex RAAF C-130A.

[Fris B. Fairing]

Flyingscarecrow

The Hawkins and Powers C-130A in question was N130HP msn 3146. The 12 RAAF C-130As were in the serial range 3205 to 3216 incl. They are all listed here (http://www.adastron.com/lockheed/hercules/herc-1.htm) if you want to check.

The video is no less scary despite the passage of time (and note that it's an Australian ABC report!)

Cheers

[Flyingscarecrow]

Thanks for that Fris, i stand corrected.:O

[sprocket]

The best rainmaker yet, a lot of the outback cockies will be beating their door down.

[Taildragger67]

Cracker: http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertanker/gallery.html

[catseye]

Interesting all the drops are over open country and fairly flat. Lets see a " simulated drop " in the mountains west of sydney with the usual 40kt fire season westerly. will the wet stuff hit the ground before the great eastern firebreak?????

and the VFR minima for dropping is or does it drop on INS co-ords. A whole new meaning to " caution wake turbulence "

The Eye

[Lurk R]

You would want to ensure that the fuel dump valves and water dump valves were sufficiently far apart!!! Would hate to see Jet A-1 going on a fire at around 1,000 AGL!!! Would create some wonderful thermals though I'd imagine... :D

[farqueue]

Buster, one of the main reasons for the 747 tanker idea is to get the plane a lot higher and out of the turbulence that has been found to eat airframes. As in a 100 hr service every second day :(

Had the pleasure to chat to the non-pilot of the H&P C130A, he thought it was the best job he'd ever not had!

[Buster Hyman]

Well, farqueue too...(Sorry, I've been wanting to do that for ages!:E )...thanks for that. Answers one question for me, but raises others. With the higher altitude, it will take some sterling airmanship to accurately dump on a fire.:ok: