"FIREFIGHTING AIR TANKERS", an Alan Simmons/Firestorm HD Production

[chrispikeyp]

very interesting thanks

[thegeffc]

really informative and interesting

[erikdesman360]

Incredible !!! A good old B-24.

[khav11]

look at all the blood lost !

[Be200USA]

Now is the time to add Beriev Be-200 to the fleet.

[QAFtuvok101]

On this video, everything before 3:57 and after 4:38 is BS.

Like firetrucks are designed specificaly for this task, you can't just convert any plane to fight fires, you must design a plane specificly for that task. That's what we did with the CL-215 (later replaced by the more powerfull CL-415).

I forgot : the CL-415 has a HUGE flaw : it's not "Made In The Good'Oll You Ess of Ayyyy". And if the US used them, the fires would be out in no time so the local firefighters would loose a lot of $.

[QAFtuvok101]

When will you guys ever learn : stop converting US planes to fight fires, WE invented the perfect plane for the job : the CL-215 (later replaced by the more powerfull 415). The ONLY airplane designed with firefighting as its primary role.

How long does it take for your "converted" airplane to fly back to base, land, taxi to the refueling station, fill its tanks, taxi back to runway, take off, fly back to the fire site ?

A CL-415 can fill its tanks in a few seconds on any water body nearby.

[HerkMeck]

@QAFtuvok101 Well if you have a water body, that is not protected, and has calm surface, and does not have a bunch of boats on it..then a water tanker is nice. But see that red stuff? it aint water......

[QAFtuvok101]

@HerkMeck Anyone on a boat near a forest fire is NUTS.

"water body that is not protected" ??

What harm does it do to a lake to pick up a few thousand gallons of water ?

Fire retardant MAY be more effective (per weight) than water (that remains to be prooven), but you can put a lot more water per hour on a fire with a CL-415 filling up at a nearby lake than with a big land-based plane that has to go back to base to refill its tanks.

[HerkMeck]

@QAFtuvok101 You still need a body of water...lots of it. That little ole flying boat of yours will be making alot of trips..I dont know about where you live...but the lakes here? Water source for most of the cities. Not to mention a couple of nuke plants. So yeah they are protected.

[HerkMeck]

When the P-8 gets into production...there will be about 100 P-3 available for tanker conversion...with 15k+hours left on them.

[Bmants]

@HerkMeck : how do you get this kind of info?

[cmr17panama]

air tractor AT802????????

[FVMACHINES]

Beautiful video ! Thank you for share.

[BlackJacket86]

Is it just me or does the guy at 5:05 sound like Nick Cage?

[Especialista107]

Impresionante cada aparato pero tiran la descarga demasiado alto y eso no resulta efectivo. Se dispersa mucho antes de llegar al suelo y el calor de las llamas llega a evaporar gran parte del liquido. Es mejor aparatos más pequeños pero con mejor manejabilidad para que vuelen más cerca de las llamas.

[ThePolyweave]

The turbo conversion of the S-2 by bassler is awesome and the p-3 is a real work horse.The p-2 with wright 3350 and jet assist is pure ( old school muscle ) These airframes are all 40 to 50 and in some cases 60 years old. And no! there will be no new aircraft in the next decade or two to take the place of these aircraft.Should be interesting??????

[WorldTravelA320]

@ThePolyweave Actually they are already coming up with replacement aircraft for the next generation of tankers, Neptune Aviation is testing a BAE 146-200 Regional jet that has been making test water drops around Missoula, along with looking at the Dash 8 Turbo Prop for a possible replacement for their P-2 fleet. The french have beaten us to the punch with Several Dash 8 tankers {Q-400 models}. with airlines trimming routes and regional planes, airframes are not hard to come by nor are parts

[AccessAir]

Just awesome stuff!!!!!

[BalticaBeer]

The best profession in the world

[sunsetreptiles]

didnt 123 crash

[nmfirepilot]

@sunsetreptiles Yes, Tanker 123 lost a wing in the summer of 2002.

[christychackojohn]

Excellent!

[sunsetreptiles]

what you expect with such an old plane. But RIP

[pwnage0013]

just too cool

[viperq]

Awesome video