this video is air attack on the still fire,was in august of 2022. some of it is in the cockpit of T89 out of grass valley. tankerguy... i cant wait..i know ,i know,we gotta,for your plane..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D6YpUwydCU
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this video is air attack on the still fire,was in august of 2022. some of it is in the cockpit of T89 out of grass valley. tankerguy... i cant wait..i know ,i know,we gotta,for your plane..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D6YpUwydCU
FIRST POST !!!
I have been creepin on this thread for almost two months checking daily for news. I yelled in joy when I seen that this project was underway and the incredible job that is being done with it. It has been my dream to have this aircraft in a sim and fly out all the missions I remember them going on around my community. I almost had it done by helping out a little known Shade tree micro aviation with the pics and schematics but they never got it finished after the Cal fire OV-10 they did, Xplane 10 days.
I was the base retardant manager of Phos-chek at KGOO and in charge of mixing and loading these tankers before Cal fire took over operations in 2016. Best 10 years of my life by far. After studying the pics provided of this beautiful project I was impressed in the fact that you are 99% accurate in the model, down to the place cards and the sheep skin seats. However one important item missing.
Leroy isnt there. Now Leroy was the legendary Joe de "hose" Satrapas co pilot in T-89. Hoser Never went on a sortie without ol Leroy strapped in the right seat. Leroy with his rubber heart and nerves of steel has seen it all and I feel is in need of consideration for the final build.
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Attachment 88475
I saw that video Dave. It is awesome. Ive been studying it a bit to see what details I can pick out of it.Glad to have you on board and another one interested in the project. Im currently working on tying in the electrical system and seeing how in depth I can get it. I mean if Leroy was strapped in the right seat with Hoser then there definitely needs to be a virtual Leroy! Send any more pics that you have and ill see what I can do.Quote:
Originally Posted by KGOO
Quote:
Originally Posted by tankerguy72
Only those two pics of Leroy exist. The one with hoser holding him and the one with me holding him. Leroy liked to stay strapped in the right seat just waiting for action, so he was rarely seen outside the cockpit. Leroy looked like any other rubber chicken out there, but he was a true "MAVERICK", just like ol Hose himself.
I wish I still had my connections to the dyncorp mechanic up there that I worked with to help you out. He would let me barrow the schematics on base. I used to bury my nose in all the electrical and hydro binders taking screenshots and sending them to the team at shade tree. Guess they never figured it out. It seems you have access to those binders already as detailed as your tracker is looking in those screenshots.
I would like to offer my help if there are any questions that may come up with stoof, like the weight of the retardant or what color the loading lights are. The tail end of the stoof and the mixer rig were my work area and I have over 3,000 loads of the pretty pink **** under my belt between Mclellan and numerous other bases.
Now if you want to go for extra credit my friend you can go and model what Hoser used to hang from the loading cap before and after a sortie. lasted a good while. He eventually had to take them off due to hurt feelings from the Cal fire brass. LOL, he would hang a giant pair of those truck balls off the load cap. A set of big ass red rubber balls that he would remove before start up. (I got pics).. What a legend.
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Hoser was an awesome guy,i didnt know him well,i mean we werent friends,but in the 80s,i (my crew and i) took direct hits from him.in the early 80s,i was rear nozzle cleaning up what remained from front nozzles knock down while doing a fast mobile attack on a grass fire,it was getting out of hand on us,strong winds,tall/heavy fuels,it was kickin our butts.something caught my eye in the cab,i looked and the engineer/captain was looking in the mirror and was frantically rolling up the window,i turned to look and all saw a wall of red,took a direct,low level hit from T89,with of curse hoser flying it,later that day,we were asked to go up to the tanker base at grass valley,the NYP ECC was still in Auburn (Bowman) at the time. we got up there,we had no idea as to why we were asked to go up there,its like 30 miles from Auburn,so well out of our coverage area.we met with hoser where the crews rested,i remember there being like a shack sitting there,but my memory could be wrong,anyway we met hoser and he apologized to us,explained to us how they werent supposed to be that low,nor go direct on a crew and so on,cant say he was shook up about it as he couldnt hold back anymore and started to chuckle and told us the he T88 and AA230 had circled a bit and were watching us pick ourselves up,then hosed each other off,said he saw a few arms raised with an impolite finger gesture ( he was right about that,it knocked the fire down,,but knocked us down too,id even lost a boot when i went for my tumble.
anyway,just a stupid story about the first time i met him. i was told he passed away not long after he retired,that true?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daveroo
Unfortunately that is true. Joe “Hoser” Satrapa — RIP – Fire Aviation
The you tube video in the link has a great Hoser story. They were out flying on the Yuba fire just below Bullards bar res. On day three of the fire it was just barely the required VFR conditions so we sent out three tankers in tandem to drop consecutively one after the other to maintain visual and reinforce dozer line with retardant. I wasn't aware of what happened yet but here comes T-89 with a new mostly red paint scheme instead of white. I will include a pic that a local friend of ours drew for hoser a few days after the incident.
Attachment 88478
On this topic, the previous episode of the Fighter Pilot Podcast is all about aerial firefighting (and the S-2 gets a lot of love), and Hoser gets mentioned a couple of times...
https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/...fire-fighting/
Any ETA there Tankerguy when we can test/ fly her?:wavey:Quote:
Originally Posted by tankerguy72
Going through and fixing bugs, cleaning up parts and checking things model/texture wise. I now have the G5 working with both the MFD and PFD. Shes getting close.
Went up for a little flight to enjoy the fruits of my labor and with the storm moving through today it was a beautiful sight.
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That looks amazing! Thanks for the preview shots.
Hello Tankerguy72,
Any update following the teasing screen you've published?
Cheers,
Stéph.
Hi Stéph! Work is progressing nicely. Testing and fixing. Modelling is pretty well wrapped up now, still coding the switches and cleaning up. We're getting there :wiggle:
Good news Tankerguy72!!!
Really looking forward to this beauty... :applause:
Cheers,
Stéph.
Great looking aircraft. A turbo version of the Stoof. Any chance it will have a viable tail hook?
Really looking forward to this one, Tankerguy.
tankerguy should prolly be the one to address your question. but i dont think hes doing anything on this plane other than the Cal Fire firefighting airtanker version. the state of california uses these for wildland firefighting to drop retardant to build a fireline, or another layer of protection to slow the progress.Quote:
Originally Posted by rvn817j
theres no need for a tailhook as these are strictly ground based.
hope that clears it up.Dave
Well I asked santa for a shiny new Stoof and all he brought me was a Goose. Guess I deserved that. I wasent very good this year. I am going to really try and be a good boy this next year and instead of leaving cookies for santa I am going to leave him a blank check so I can get my shiny new S-2T.
Excellent comment KGOO... you made my day (or evening in France...)!!! :ernaehrung004:Quote:
Originally Posted by KGOO
Cheers,
Stéph.
So looking forward to this one too. Going to also get the Orbx McCall add on to compliment this beauty. Thanks for the fantastic dedication to this aircraft.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strykerpsg
Just purchased the KMYL myself. It is spot on as I remember. Had a hell of a flight last night out of McCall in the kodiak to a small town north called Riggins in Idaho. A sweet little town nestled right along the river. Final stop in Missoula and had to do a go around due to too many makers marks:wink:.
I include a link to a video I made years ago for an end of season party back when I was a sauce boss at KGOO with the D-hose, tanker 89, 88. The observant can see a pic of me holding hosers balls that he used to hang off the loading cap of 89. Hopefully link works, if not search "Phos chek summer" on youtube.
https://youtu.be/krK91LXiE3M
Made my day also! haha :jump:Quote:
Originally Posted by KGOO
Project is kind of at a stand still. Making changes with the flight model and it took a nose dive off the deep end. Working through the issues now.
Ever since I started this project there was one special livery that I wanted to create, but I knew itd be a bit of a tough one. Finally sat down the last couple days and really focused on it and id say the results were worth the headache.
This is the first Grumman S2F3AT built at Cal Fire's AMU headquarters at McClellan Airpark in Sacramento, Ca. It was built to replace Tanker 81 that crashed in Yosemite, Ca in 2014 and bring the fleet back up to 23 airtankers again. This is what N450DF looked like when it was completed and prior to becoming Tanker 79 which is based at Hollister, CA.
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Fantastic job tankerguy72!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by tankerguy72
This is history preservation (or a kind of...) at its best... :ernaehrung004:
Cheers,
Stéph.
i remember that day in 2014.was a shock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tankerguy72
I love those unpainted prototype / test flight schemes. Nice work!
I am kind of surprised there is no sort of bombsight for accuracy, unless I missed something. Just seems that would aid all of those tanker beasts in more precise droppings and provide higher efficiency. Maybe I am overthinking the process and love the concept completely. I've never seen the commercial side here in Washington, just the helos with Bambi buckets beneath.
I am hoping you're charging for this piece of kit. You've put so much time and attention to detail. At least make a contribution page so we can donate, in hopes of keeping more of this sort of stuff flowing.