(OT) Heavy Airplanes in firefighting roles...was: Re: RE: West Coast Monsoons....was: Re: [Shotimes] Wiper Problems

[George Fourchy]

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 15:44:23 -0500, av8r567@optonline.net wrote:

>The 747 and C-5 were designed for high-altitude cruising with occasional light/moderate turbulence, not low-altitude flying with massive turbulence on every flight.

Correct.  We couldn't even file international/oceanic flight plans into areas of
forecast moderate turbulence.  Back when I was flying them, they were all unmodified
A models, just beginning to be scheduled to get their new wings, which will give
them the extended life they were supposed to have from the beginning.  The B models
are overall stronger than the A models, and some of the high time As are retired.

Two hundred tons (close to empty weight) of aluminum alloy, which can not be flexed
much, before it breaks, unlike steel, is a LOT of mass to be tossed around by
updrafts from fires, and even with the good safety record of the 747, I'd bet they
will not be allowed to go into hot areas like the fire tankers do now.  On the other
hand, dumping the water a few thousand feet higher (maybe....I don't know how high
the rough updrafts go from fires) would still be a help.

The other problems....turnaround time and runway lengths, are still significant.

I saw that C-130 lose its wings.  Boy-o-boy....I have 1800 hours in them.  I'm glad
ours weren't that old (I wasn't, either!!...1969-73, flying '62-'65 models.)  I
learned to fly them at a different base (Sewart, in Nashville) from my home station 
(Pope, in NC), and that squadron was getting 24 _brand new_ '69 models.  Sweet!!. 
The one I took my final check-ride on, 69-6567, had 8 hours on it, and had just been
delivered the week before.  It smelled like a new car....small carpets on the
cockpit floor; the console was clean, not covered with dirt; and it flew faster than
advertised with the power set far lower than was normally required.  It would have
won the grand prize at any SHO event!!  (SHO content!)

It's probably in the boneyard at Davis-Monthan now.

George