T-911 dropping..great

[Daveroo]

well seems im the only one who really thinks this stuff is cool...lol..

[Dev One]

Daveroo,
As I assume you were a firefighter, but also live in a high risk area, you are bound to be interested.
What interests me more is that the majority of the aircraft used were never designed to operate at low level in possibly high turbulence & also not really designed for high manoeuvrability, those pilots must take on quite a risk; especially as those airframes are ancient & already have a high fatigue life. It is nice to see though that the retardant seems to work quite quickly.
Keith

[Daveroo]

Hi Keith,
i agree and ive lost three friends who flew tankers over the years.but the airtanker program is something i like to follow.ive been dropped on several times and once it really saved us.


there is currently a "competition" for people to submit a purpose designed air tanker ,must be twin engined,turboprop or jet,and carry a minimum of 3000gals,they also put out a report,the feds did,that states the MAFFS system is NOT effective enough,they recommend gravity flow only,the gravity flow allows the retardant to penetrate the tree canopy,where the MAFFS and other air pressure based systems cause the retardant to become a mist,and that stays on top of the trees,might be good to stop crowning fires..but most burn on the floor..so the pressurized units just dont cut it.