Random Ramblings: Aerial Wildland Firefighting

Florida wildfires

2012-02-01T19:26:00.009-05:00

Flordia holds a special place in my heart so my thoughts always turn to Florida at this time of year because winter often means wildfires. Action newsJax reports here about the increased fire danger so far this year. According to the Florida Forest Fire Service Wildfire Information Page from Jan 1, 2012 through Jan 29, 2012 there have been 402 state wildfires (5510 acres burned) and 16 federal wildfires (3,757 acres burned).

Many of you have probably heard about the 10 deaths from automobile crashes attributed to fog and smoke, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on this here, and here is an article from the Palm Beach Daily News on the automobile crashes highlighting the wildfire threat in Florida.

I embedded a map from the folk at ERSI. This should be a customized link to the map embedded above which I obtained about 6:45 PM today (Feb. 1, 2012). As I write this, there are three larger fires in Florida, and another in Oklahoma. To be honest, I am not quite sure if the image I embedded is static or changes over time. So, perhaps you are seeing something different from what I am writing about. In any event, it is a nice resource. Clicking on the fire icon should give you information about the fire.
The Florida Forest Fire Service has their own fire mapping system that may be accessed here.

I'll be checking in on wildfire activity in Florida from time to time, so stay tuned.

Update on USFS RFP for Turbine Tankers

2012-01-30T18:19:00.029-05:00

I have been wondering what has been happening with the US Forest Service RFP for turbine tankers (see the article that I wrote here). I suspected that at some point Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today would write a piece following up on the excellent articles he wrote on Dec 1, 2011 and Dec 2, 2011 reporting on the USFS RFP for turbine tankers.

When the USFS issued the RFP on Nov. 30, 2011 responses to the RFP had to be in by Jan 10, 2012 with the award date being January 31. Well, January 31 is tomorrow. On January 28, Bill Gabbert reported here that the USFS has reissued the RFP with a new response date of February 15. The revised award date is “to be determined". He also linked to a Q & A page about the RFP.

I wish that I could say that I was surprised to hear of these changes. I'm not too surprised, but I am very disappointed. We have 12 heavy tankers this year that will be on contract, including the BAe-146 which is currently under going maintenance (see Gabbert's January 28th article). We need more heavy tankers in the U.S.

Twelve is not enough.

In 2001-2 we had some 40 heavy tankers on contract. Perhaps our friends in Canada will help us out again this year when their fire season winds down, whenever that is. According to the 2012 Federal Contract Airtanker List it won't be until May 25 that all eleven P-2s are on contract. The start date for T-40, the BAe-146 tanker, is still to be determined.

Twelve is not enough.

Obtained from http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/logistics/aviation/aviation.htm on 1/27/2012

Tankers going on contract soon for 2012 U.S. fire season

2012-01-27T12:34:00.012-05:00

PR Web is reporting that Neptune Aviation has moved up their maintenance schedule and pilot recurrency training to have their tankers ready earlier than in previous years for the upcoming 2012 fire season. Recall that Neptune has nine P-2V's and a BAe-146. The BAe-146 may still be undergoing maintenance at Tronos. The first tanker will be ready on or about February 26. You will want to read the PR Web article. In addition, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on this yesterday. Bill reports that Minden is going to have a tanker ready to go on contract early this season.

I just found the 2012 Federal Contract Air Tanker List from the National Interagency Coordination Center's (NICC) Aviation Page. I just downloaded my copy a pdf file from this link on the NICC aviation page. According to the list that I just downloaded (revised 1/23/12), Minden's tanker 55 goes on contract on Feb. 15 with Neptune's tanker 45 following on Feb. 26. The last Neptune P-2 goes on contract May 25. There is not date specified on this last for when Neptune's Bae-146 (T-40) goes on contract, with a TBD being listed.

Avro RJ85 Airtanker

2012-01-26T08:02:00.000-05:00

This just in! Conair Group in Canada and Falko have entered into an exclusive agreement to market the Avro RJ85 as a type 1 airtanker carrying at least 3,000 gallons. If I am not mistaken, the Avro RJ85 is a later and newer variant of the BAe-146.

Conair Group is based in Abbotsford in Southwest British Columbia. Conair is currently converting one Avro RJ85 that they purchased in late 2011 for use as an airtanker. The plan is to have it ready by the 2013 fire season.

You may read more about this joint venture in this news release from aviationpros. I'd like to thank a good friend who sent me this article late last night.

Not quite in the clouds

2012-01-20T20:51:00.010-05:00

I continue to work on learning to identify clouds. I went an air experience flight with a great young pilot yesterday. It was a great flight, but a bit on the bumpy side. We were not flying very high, about 2,500 ft AGL going west and about 3,000 ft on the return flight going east.

As we were flying back, I told the pilot that I was studying weather, including identifying clouds. So we started talking about the scattered clouds that were about 1,000 ft or so above us. He pointed to one cloud just ahead of us, and said that is a cumulus cloud, and when we fly under it we will feel some turbulence. And yes, I felt the turbulence as we flew under the cloud.

I don't feel like am exactly in a position to say much more on clouds. But my flight yesterday did get me thinking about resources on the web where those of you are interested can go and learn more about clouds.

The National Weather Service has an online school of weather, including a topic on clouds and cloud classifications.

If you go to the cloud classification page, you will see that clouds are divided into high, middle, and low level clouds. Within each level are nine categories of clouds. You will see a sky watcher chart on this webpage with clickable pictures. You can learn about the 27 categories of clouds plus some special clouds. For example, here is a picture and some information about a cumulus cloud that may have been similar to the ones we flew under yesterday.

NASA has some nice resources for learning about clouds, including the aforementioned Sky Watcher Chart (you can download) and links to other resources on clouds, some of which are geared towards young people. I can tell you that this older person enjoyed these resources. Here is the NASA page on an Introduction to Clouds

If you want to learn how clouds affect aviation interests, Pilot Outlook has a page on clouds.

Washoe Fire in Reno NV

2012-01-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

I heard about the Washoe Fire that has burned about 4,000 acres in Reno Nevada yesterday. You may have seen reports about this fire on national news and weather outlets. I saw one report on the Weather Channel earlier today.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports on the Washoe Fire here.

California Fire News reports on the fire here.

There are two threads on the Wildland Fire hotlist forums. These are: West Basin initial attack on Washoe Fire and West Basin QandA on Washoe Fire.

More on Aero Union

2012-01-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

I made a very short post here saying that Aero Union is having an auction on Feb, 28. There inventory of P-3 Orions, parts, various intellectual property and other assets. Specifically, sealed bids will be opened on Feb. 28.

I'd like to thank a good friend who told me that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote an article yesterday reporting on some recent correspondance he had with Mr. Gourley, CEO of Aero Union Corp. According to Gabbert, Mr. Gourley said that Aero Union is going to appeal the US Forest Service's decision of July 29, 2011 to terminate Aero Union's contract.

I don't know if I can add anything to what Bill Gabbert has already said, so I'll leave you to your own devices to go and read Bill's article. He includes a copy of Mr. Gourley's letter at the end of his article.

air frame icing

2012-01-16T11:20:00.030-05:00

I've been thinking about and reading up on airframe icing recently. Every pilot that I have talked to has agreed that situations where airframe icing may be encountered should be avoided. A typical comment from one of my pilot friends on the subject of icing might be:

"airframe icing scares the wits out of me!"

I was wondering the best way to share some information about airframe icing with you and I found this short two minute animation showing the effect of airframe icing. Wings create lift, and icing disrupts the flow of air over the wings. In this animation you will see:

ice build up on the wings disrupting the airflow over the wings
ice build up on the propellers (watch the props slow down)
ice build up on the wind shield
and ice build up on other surfaces (tail, fuselage, etc)

You will want to see the information that the person who uploaded the video to youtube (trustyetverify) made here. The animation does not show one likely outcome, stall and crash. But you will get the picture. Pay careful attention to the changes in air flow during the animation. In the first few seconds you will see "normal" air flow before ice build up interferes with the air flow.

Before, or perhaps after you watch the video, if you want read a little more about airframe icing, here is a short article on the subject. Included in this article are two embedded videos, a 25 second animation on airframe icing and a 7 minute video from NASA on tail icing.

Spending time with Weather

2012-01-13T17:42:00.000-05:00

I don't need to tell anyone reading this blog how important weather is to aviation interests. Whether they be fixed-wing or rotor-wing aerial firefighting and support operations, general aviation interests, commercial, etc. etc. I spent a lot of time with weather when I was in ground school two years ago preparing for the FAA private pilot written exam (which I passed).

Over the last couple of weeks, I have decided that I want to spend more time learning about weather as applies to aviation. But also about weather in general. To that end, I have spent some time reviewing things like the different types of clouds and how to identify them, air masses, weather fronts, etc. I'm spending more time with aviation weather charts along with looking up at the sky to (try) identify the clouds.

I'm not quite sure where I am going to this in my blog at this point. I'm still figuring that part out.

In the meantime, here in northern NJ a cold front passed through early today, its passage was marked by snow squalls. The winds kicked up a couple of hours before the cold front arrived, and we were under a wind advisory all day, due to end at 6PM. Winds were sustained at about 20 mph with gusts in the range of 35 to 45 mph. Winds will die down over night. Or so they say.

Kudos to NJ Aviation History

2012-01-11T18:39:00.002-05:00

I am always on the prowl for interesting aviation books to read including but not limited to aviation history. From time to time I go and take a look at aviation books at my local county library. One of the great things about the internet is that I can do this online from the comfort of home. Before Christmas, I found a treasure, a book focusing on aviation history in NJ. It is called:

From the Balloon to the Moon: New Jersey’s Amazing Aviation History, written by H.V. Pat Reilly. Mr. Reilly is the executive director of the New Jersey State Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum (NJAHFM) located at Teterboro Airport (KTEB). I liked the book so much that I decided to buy a copy. I picked up mine at the NJAHFM in Teterboro, but you may be able to find a used copy on the internet (e.g. Amazon).

The book is organized chronologically, I am up to 1949. Having lived in northern NJ for over 30 years now (that is scary), so many of the places that Reilly wrote about in northern NJ were familiar to me, along with some places in the southern part of the state. I loved reading about some of the early aviators and the early airfields. I learned about the history of Newark-Liberty International Airport and Teterboro.

I learned about some of the early aviators. Barnstormers, airshows, air mail pilots, WWI, WW II, instructors. Then there were the early aviation mechanics, air traffic controllers, fixed base operators.

And the companies, some long gone. Here are some you may have heard of: Fokker Aircraft, Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, Curtiss-Wright Corp (engines and propellers), Aircraft Radio Corp., Bendix Corp., and Switlick Parachute Co. And many many more.

I can’t begin to do this book and NJ’s aviation history justice in this short article. But I will be writing more about moments in NJ Aviation history here in the blog from time to time.

I’d urge any of you who are interested in aviation history to explore your regions aviation history. Perhaps through a local aviation museum and or hall of fame. Perhaps there is a book.

And don’t forget your local general aviation airport, they have a history. An important history.

Brush fire management plan (draft) for Great Kills in Staten Island

2012-01-09T19:31:00.003-05:00

Brush fires or wildfires can happen anywhere from urban to suburban to rural areas. You just have to brush to burn. Staten Island, one of five boros in New York City have seen brush fires in phragamite marshes on Staten Island. I referenced one such blaze in a post from Sept, 2010. A couple of months ago, I wrote here about phragmites, and invasive species and the efforts of the National Park Service to clean up the phragmite marshes in the Staten Island.

A friend of mine (Thanks!!) sent me a link to Staten Island Live (SILive) the other day. Tom Wobrleski, ne of their reporters wrote an article on Jan 5 of this year reporting on a draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for the east shore of Staten Island. Components of this plan include cleaning up debris from the Phragmite marshes, mowing the Phragmites a few times a year and a 150' fire break. Included in the article are some documents, two graphics showing the CWPP maps. If I am reading these documents correctly, the plan includes areas in the Great Kill National Recreation Area. I believe that the fire I wrote about in Sept. 2010 was in the Great Kill. Below are the same two documents that Wobrleski linked to in his SILive article.

Wildfire Protection Plan Maps

More news on BAe-146 tankers

2012-01-06T19:07:00.003-05:00

In late September BAe-146, T-40 (Neptune Aviation and Tronos) received interim approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board. A few days later, T-40 was on her way to Texas. T-40 is a jet powered aircraft that can carry 3,000 gallons of retardant.

On January 2, The Missoulian reported that the US Forest Service has contracted for T-40 for one year. You may recall that the USFS will contract for turbine (jet) tankers in 2012.

There is one more BAe-146 tanker ready for testing this month, this one owned and operated by Minden Air. Further, Minden has a second BAe-146 that they will convert to a tanker after the first one is done. Bill Gabbert of wildfire today reports on Minden's BAe-146 tankers as well as the contract for T-40 here. Bill also reports that one of Minden's two P-2V tankers will go on contract in February with their second tanker going on contract in April.

MInden Air has a webpage devoted to their BAe-146.

Aero Union Auction

2012-01-06T19:06:00.008-05:00

I am very saddened to report that an auction is being held on Feb, 28 in ~~Houston TX~~ Sacremento CA to auction off Aero Union's property including all of their P-3 Orions, parts, and intellectual property. Specifically sealed bids will be open on that date. Recall that the USFS terminated its contract with Aero Union in late July.

For information on this auction go here.

Flying School at Hemet-Ryan circa 1941

2012-01-04T17:21:00.004-05:00

I want to share with you some great footage from the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum (SDASM) of footage of the Hemet Flying School circa 1941. I found this footage posted by the SDASM on youtube and was intrigued to see this historical footage of flight operations from well before Hemet was an air attack base for CAL FIRE. I found the video on this youtube page. The San Diego Air and Space Museum has a channel on youtube with lots and lots of historical archives that may be found here.

You will see Stearmans and PT-16s in the video.

The Riverside County Fire Department has a webpage where you may read a short history of the Ryan Air Attack Base.

Hawaii Mars at Vancover Harbor

2012-01-02T07:48:00.003-05:00

The Martin Mars a couple of years ago.

Updated Jan 2, 9:45 PM EST: thanks to two friends who pointed out the geographical error in today's title. The video is not at Shasta Lake, rather it was shot in Vancover Harbor a couple of years ago, possibly at a demonstration done at a fire expo a couple of years ago. I had also been looking at a video of the Martin Mars shot at Shasta Lake. Sorry folks and thanks again to my two friends.

Testing of Hawaii Mars (circa 1945)

2011-12-30T14:53:00.003-05:00

This video from the United News Newsreels is posted on fedflix, more info may be found on this fed flix page. I am embedding this video because I was fascinated by the first feature in the newsreel showing what I think may be the first test flight of the Hawaii Mars circa 1945. Part 2 of the newsreel shows the 2nd Marines landing on and securing an atoll in the vicinity of Okinawa sometime late in WWII. Part 3 shows President Truman and other dignitaries arriving at Antwerp along with some scenes from the Potsdam Conference.

The newsreel says that the Hawaii Mars is the first of twenty of her type. It turned out that only four or Five were built, including the Hawaii Mars. Two remain, the Hawaii Mars and the Philippine Mars, see this page on the Coulson Flying Tankers website for more information about the two Mars aircraft.

I loved seeing the Hawaii Mars, albeit in black and white, in her military colors. Enjoy!

Some of the scenes of emaciated Japanese citizens and children might be a little disturbing to some.

Blue Angels Winter Training

2011-12-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

During this holiday week, enjoy these two videos from Envenometer1 showing the 2012 Blue Angels winter training.

Bambi Buckets

2011-12-26T16:09:00.003-05:00

Before Christmas, I was posting about firefighting helos:

Thanks Firefighting Helos!
CAL FIRE Super Huey Bucket Work Demo

I want to continue with one more post, at least for the time being, on the good work that Helos do as aerial wildland firefighters. To that end, I hope you enjoy this video on bambi bucket training.

Happy holidays everyone and stay safe!

The Shepard

2011-12-23T21:23:00.000-05:00

For more info on the Shepard see the information on youtube.

I love this story. Merry Christmas everyone! Safe travels.

NTSB update on Morris County NJ airplane crash

2011-12-21T21:34:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I reported here on an airplane crash on Interstate 287 in Morris County NY. Here is this afternoon's NTSB briefing on yesterdays plane crash. I believe but am not certain that the wreckage has been cleared from the highway. The plane, a Socata TBM 700 (single engine prop-turbine), was at an altitude of close to 18,000 when it went into an uncontrolled spin crashing into the I-287.

The names of those who died in the crash, widely reported in the press, have not been released by the authorities. My prayers go out to their family, friends, colleagues, and school mates.

CAL FIRE Super Huey Demo (bucket work)

2011-12-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

Here is a nice video of a demo of CAL FIRE Bell Super Huey 106. You will see her firefighting team exit the helo and attach the bucket before the helo goes off and does a demonstration bucket drop.

Thanks firefighting helos!

2011-12-21T12:48:00.000-05:00

I want to pause and remember all of you helicopter pilots and crew who play such an important role in aerial wildland firefighting. You might be under a federal contract. Alternatively, your helicopter might be owned by or under contract with a state or local government agency. You helos come in various sizes performing various missions.

I know you are there.

Perhaps you are a Bell Super Huey (medium helo) with a 300 gallon bucket. Your state agency got you through the federal excess property program. You get the call, a wildfire in your division. The ground crews need your help, they need your bucket. You fly to the fire, there is a pond minutes from the fire where you can dip your bucket. The incident commander on the ground has been in touch with your pilot telling him where to drop. You dip and fly to the fire to make your drop. You fly back and forth to the fire for as long as the incident commander needs you, dip and drop, dip and drop. Dip, oh there is a spot fire outside the fire line, you drop on the spot fire. Dip and drop, dip and drop. . .

I know you are there.

Perhaps you are another Bell Super Huey (medium helo) flying for an agency in a different part of America. You carry up to 8 firefighters, you have a 360 helitank with a snorkel hose and a separate foam tank. You also have a 324 gallon bucket. There is a wildfire in a remote area in the hills within range of your base. Your job, drop off your firefighters and their captain at a safe landing spot near the fire. You drop off your firefighting team. This time your bucket is needed. They quickly unload their gear and attach your bucket to your belly.

The fixed wing tanker and air attack platform from your base are already at the fire when you arrive. You will support your firefighting team, with your bucket, and your pilot talks to Air Attack and the captain of your team on the ground. As long as necessary you go back and forth, dipping and dropping.

I know you are there.

Perhaps you are an Erickson Air Crane with a 3,000 gallon tank and a snorkle hose. Your tank can carry water as well as retardant. You are working a large fire, there is a portable retardant tank set up at a temporary base near the fire.

You are working with some fixed wing tankers, and another "Crane. After you fill your belly tank with retardant you circle the fire in the fire traffic area at an orbit and altitude assigned by an aerial supervisor. The aerial supervisor tells you when it is your turn to drop. If requested by the aerial supervisor, you make multiple drops. You go back and forth from the fire to the retardant tank, to the fire traffic area, dropping, and then back to the retardant tank.

I know you are there.

small plane crash in NJ - five dead

2011-12-20T15:48:00.003-05:00

For more info go to this NJ dot com article. My prayers go out to the family and friends of those who died in the crash.

Single Pilot Firefighting Aircraft

2011-12-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

Some tanker pilots fly alone, without the aid of a co-pilot. Their tankers have one or two engines with fewer gauges to keep track of than their heavy cousins. But that doesn't make what you do any simplier. There is nothing simple about flying fires whether you are a single pilot or part of a multi-person crew of a heavy tanker.

As a single pilot you do all the flying. Running through the checklists, working the radio, making the drop, watching the gauges. All of it. You love the flying, but it isn't simple.

You know and respect your own limits and you respect the limits of your aircraft. You are always aware of the situation and you follow your intuition. If something is wrong you go around or land. And if you are working with a Canadian bird dog pilot, an American lead plane pilot, or a CAL FIRE air tactical platform you have told them about your problem. The goal is to stay safe so that you can go back to your home base and fly again the next day.

You may be alone in your tanker but there may be other aircraft over the fire. On the other end of that radio there may be a Canadian bird dog pilot or an American lead plane pilot, or a CAL FIRE air tactical platform. If you talk to other tanker pilots from your group or agency you do so on a predetermined private channel. Perhaps you are a pilot for a state forest fire service, in that case you may be talking to a pilot or incident commander in an observation aircraft.

I write this short piece for all of you tanker and helo pilots who are flying as single pilots. I know you are there. Thank-you for what you do.

Safety in the tanker and helo biz

2011-12-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about the safety in the tanker and helo biz recently. I believe that I can say that one common thread to various communications with those of you in the business of aerial wildland fighting is a concern for safety. A common concern for safety. I now have the experience of attending aviation ground school, passing the FAA private pilot written exam, and while I am not in flight training I do go on what I call air experience flights. While it is likely that I may never be a licensed pilot, I can say that out of my own experiences with aviation that I have thought about aviation safety in a new way. In a new way because I feel that I have role in the safety of my air experience flights. Even if that role is confined to being a knowledgeable passenger, I take that role very seriously.

Some of you know that I have spent some time on this blog writing about safety as relates to the world of aerial wildland firefighting. As I reflect on safety in the aerial wildland firefighting business, I have been thinking about these earlier posts. I also find myself thinking about all that I have learned about aerial wildland firefighting. And of course, I have my own experiences in aviation ground school and my air experience flights to draw on.

Regarding safety, I have recently written about emergency retardant drops and using checklists. For reasons that are difficult to explain, I felt the need to sit down and write about my reflections on tanker and helo safety. What I thought would be something that I could sit down and have ready for posting today is turning into a longer piece, something that I am spending some time on.

While I am working on these reflections, I'll be making some additions to the pages on this blog, adding a page on tanker and helo safety. Stay tuned. I'll let you know as I work on the other pages to this blog. Further, I'll be posting the as yet unwritten reflections here when they are ready. In the meantime, I may continue to post more specific posts along the lines of what I have recently written about emergency retardant drops on take-off and using checklists.

Stay safe out there.

Using checklists is important for all pilots

2011-12-14T11:54:00.000-05:00

I probably first learned about the importance of checklist during ground school as I was studying for the FAA private pilot written exam. The check lists are in the aircraft's POH, Pilot's Operating Handbook. The trainers at the airport have aircraft specific checklists laminated on a ring in each airplane. Most every detail that happens during a flight is on that check list. After a few air experience flights, I sometimes go through a checklist with the pilot.

As I continue to go on my air experience flights and gain appreciation for the importance of checklists, my appreciation for the importance of checklists in the tanker biz grows. I remembered an e-mail that my tanker pilot friend G sent me about checklists over a year ago. I recently dug it up, this is what he says:

Use of a checklist in any airplane is essential. Even if your personal checklist is just a mnemonic like "CIGAR" (controls, instruments, gas, attitude, run-up) or whatever, it is absolutely foolish to not use your checklist. Accident statistics are full to the brim with guys who were too cool to use a checklist.

In large, complex, multi-engine aircraft, the written checklist is the bible. You read it religiously. In a multi-crew cockpit, the checklist is always a call and response type exercise, unless it's a checklist that the non-flying pilot can accomplish without distracting the flying pilot from flying, eg: the pre-drop check performed by the non-flying pilot before a retardant drop. My co-pilots would always have to say something like, "Pre-drop check complete, standing by the jets". I would always acknowledge the check list complete announcement with something like: "Pre-drop check complete, thank you, light 'em up", which was a call to start the jets before the drop.

It's the same in the taxi check. When the co-pilot was finished with the taxi check, he would say, "Taxi check complete" and I would always acknowledge with a "Taxi check complete, thank you" to let him know I had heard him. Sometimes, you are listening to a radio transmission and you don't hear the checklist call. The guy running the checklist should always demand a response if one is necessary.

Missing even one item on almost any flight checklist can kill you. It is not a student pilot exercise, it is a matter of safe flight. Flying is absolutely unforgiving of sloppiness and tanker flying is more unforgiving of any carelessness or "Mr Cool" attitude. Miss one switch, and you become the latest accident statistic.

Given the importance of checklists in aviation in general, including multi-engine airtankers, it is appropriate and within sound aviation practices that the 2011 Federal Airtanker Contract requires checklists be present in the cockpit. The copy of the tanker contract that I have mentions these checklists. I'd expect that there may be additional checklists not listed in the contracts:

before starting engines
before takeoff
cruise
before drop
after drop
emergencies
before landing
after landing
stopping engines

The oncall SEAT contract that I have for 2011 has a similar list of required checklists. What is on these checklists will depend on the type of aircraft, the tank configuration and perhaps by the contractor.

Not included in the list above is the all important pre-flight checklist where the crew inspects the aircraft before and sometimes after each flight.

Regarding helicopters used in aerial wildland firefighting. I don't know nearly as much about helos as I do about fixed wing aircraft. However, I suppose that what is good for fixed wing aircraft is also good for helos. Following that logic then it may stand to reason that checklists are just as important for helos as for fixed wing.

P-2 Tanker (T-48) Landing

2011-12-12T15:46:00.000-05:00

The same person, Kyler Boylan , who posted the video on youtube of T-48 taking off also posted the above video on T-48 landing. Recall the article here where my friend G who was a P-2 tanker captain provided some commentary on that video. G does the same for this video on T-48 landing. Remember that there is no audio on the video, so G is only providing commentary on what he is seeing in the video. Also, tanker captains may run t heir cockpits a little differently.

This is a normal landing, both recips are running, so there are no extraordinary measures in place.

0:13 - CP is flying with both hands on the yoke. He reaches up to adjust the throttles with left hand. Goes back to flying with both hands. These aircraft are heavy on the controls, so it usually takes
two hands to maneuver the yoke.

0:18 - P reaches up to advance the prop lever to increase RPM. If the props are not brought forward, they should be pushed full up on touchdown for the upcoming reversing of the props.

On landing, the pilot takes the throttles, reaches ahead of the throttles and grabs the reversing handles. The copilot reached overhead and hits the reverse override, which allows the props to reverse even if the squat switches in the landing gear are not fully made yet. He also takes the yoke to hold the nose wheel on the runway to improve the hydraulic steering response.

If this were a single engine landing, the pilot flying would be manipulating only one recip throttle. The jets would be online and the non-flying pilot would be handling the jet throttles for use as necessary on the command by the flying pilot. The jets would be ordered off on short final when the landing is safely assured.

Emergency retardant drops on take-off

2011-12-09T12:49:00.000-05:00

One more point that I feel has to made regarding tanker take-offs, whether they be P-2's or other tankers, is the need to make an emergency retardant salvo. There are many things that can go wrong on take-offs, an engine or hydraulic failure are but two examples. The ability to jettison a load of retardant in the event of an emergency can be crucial to a safe return to base by the tanker. As I understand it, most tanker bases have an area, usually stated by coordinates, where tankers may make emergency salvos of their retardant in the event of an emergency.

Different tankers have different cockpit controls and tank configurations. Many tankers have an emergency drop switch in addition to the normal drop switch. What switch the pilot presses in the event of an emergency on or after take-off may depend on the pilot's knowledge of what happens when the emergency drop switch is pressed. Dropping ten tons of retardant at once leaves the tanker uncontrollable for a few nerve wracking seconds. Something that may not be desirable in an emergency. There might be other options.

For example, when I was writing about retardant drops in the DC-7 T-62 two years ago, Larry Kraus (T-62 pic) told me here that the emergency drop switch on all of Butler's DC-7 tankers (including T-62) is configured to salvo the load at a coverage level of five. If I am correct in understanding how this works, a salvo at a coverage level of five might avoid the sudden pitch-up of the nose.

My friend G told me that he always armed the normal drop switch for a coverage level of four:

The emergency dumps I made were all done through the normal drop switch
on the pilot's yoke. If you use the normal system, the load goes out at a more even rate. It's a controllable, predictable pitch-up. At a coverage level four, that only takes about 3 seconds, so it is over in a heartbeat and the airplane climbs like it is homesick for the sky.

USFS to contract for turbine tankers in 2012

2011-12-07T16:23:00.005-05:00

I got a couple of e-mails last week from friends telling that the USFS has a solicitation for what they are calling Next Generation Tankers. As I understand it, next generation tankers means that the tankers must be turbine powered with a minimum retardant tank capacity of 2,400 gallons. A three to five gallon retardant tank capacity would be optimal. As for numbers of turbine tankers, it will be from 7 to 35 tankers. The contracts will be awarded in January of 2012 with mandatory availability starting in May of 2012.

Bill Gabbert of wildfire today did an excellent job on reporting on this on Dec 1 and Dec 2, including some additional information on the USFS solicitation, and a nice analysis of possibilities for these Next Generation tankers. There are some good comments on both of his articles as well. Good reading!

Included in the mix of possibilities will be the BAe-146, recall that Neptune Aviation has one (T-40) that has temporary approval from the Interagency Tanker Board. T-40 carries at least 3,000 gallons of retardant and
was working wildfires in Texas in the fall of 2011.

B-17 from WW II speaks

2011-12-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

I wrote a series on the B-17 in March of 2011 focusing on her military history, the first article in this series (March 21, 2011) may be found here. Prior to writing this series, I did a lot of reading about the role of the B-17 and her crew during WW II. I was profoundly moved by the stories that I read. Just this morning, thanks to a friend, I came across the video I have embedded above. You will learn a little about Marvin Skubick a WW II B-17 pilot who made it back home after flying 35 missions. He shares a little and then takes a flight on the Yankee Lady, a restored B-17.

I found the video very moving. Thanks Marvin!

Reflections on a tanker taking off

2011-12-02T08:36:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed the video on the P-2 tanker take-off that I posted the other day because it gave me a sense of sitting in the cockpit during take-off. A great feeling. But, I found myself wishing that I could look at the P-2 cockpit instruments during take-off. That is unlikely to happen anytime soon, if ever.

However, I do have the opportunity to go up in a Cessna Cutlass (172 RG) when I go on an air experience flight. Unlike the trainer, the Cutlass has a fuel pump, retractable landing gear, cowl flaps and a constant speed propeller. The engine is carburated. There are about four instruments in the cockpit of the Cutlass that are not in the trainers that I usually go up in.

Before our flight, I showed the pilot the P-2 tanker video along with G's comments.

Some of the instruments are the same as that found in the P-2V in the video. I wanted to watch these gauges for myself during a short flight to a nearby airport. By the way, a great day for flying. i was watching the gauges so no pictures from the flight.

So I watched the instruments. And got a bit of a sense of what my friend G was saying in his commentary describing the P-2 take-off. When we were on our take-off roll in the Cutlass the manifold pressure was 28" with a prop rpm of 2700. A point of comparison, G tells me "in the P2, we would pull about 52 inches and 2900 turns (of the prop) on take-off."

I have one important job on take-off and landing, when the pilot said that he was lowering the gear, I looked out my window and told him that the gear on my side is up (or down). He calls out that the gear on his side is up (or down).

As we climbed in the Cutlass, the pilot reduced the MP to 25" and a prop rpm of 2500. As we climbed the MP goes down but the prop rpm stays the same. Cruise power is MP of 21" and a prop rpm of 2300.

I watched the gauges as we flew and listened to the pilot as he spoke. And I learned more. I had dug up some Cutlass check lists on the internet so I had an idea of what the power settings would be. And I understand more thanks to a great pilot and teacher. But there was more. I thought about flying a tanker with two large recips and the jets used on take-off. And an awful lot more instruments to keep track of.

I thought about the how the pilot and the co-pilot in the video worked together during the take-off. Each had their jobs. Two pilots are needed to fly the P-2V. It was awesome watching them work together in the video. Elegance in action.

The role of the co-pilot is to watch the gauges as the pilot flies the airplane. And I thought that there is nothing simple about flying a tanker loaded with retardant. Or as Larry Kraus told me once, "See, I told you that the tanker business is complicated." Elegant but complicated.

P-2 tanker take-off

2011-11-30T14:22:00.000-05:00

Several days ago I found the video that I am embedding showing the take-off of Minden T-48 (Lockheed P2V-7). I enjoyed the video and wanting to more I asked my friend G who was a P-2 tanker captain for many years if he could tell me what was going in the video. When you read the commentary and watch the video, perhaps you will want to open the video in a separate browser window so you can read along while you watch.

I should point out that captains may run their cockpits a little differently from what you are seeing in the video.

This is what G says:

In the P2V-7, all the throttles and such are on the overhead panel. From left to right they are: Fuel mixture levers; Recip throttles; Jet throttles. The prop lever is a single lever behind the recip throttles and you can't see it in this video. The two round things attached to the front of the recip throttles that look like bicycle hand grips are the reversing levers for the props. They are used after landing to help slow the plane on the runway.

On the P2V-5, all this stuff is down on the center console.

Here's what I can see. There are verbal commands in there that we can't hear, so this is based on what I see:

:06 - CP takes jet throttles as P lines up on runway centerline.

:10 - P does last minute checks to be certain the props & mixtures are up tand the boost pumps are on high. The boost pump switches in the -7 are on the overhead panel.

:12 - CP advances jet throttles to 100%, calls "Jets up". P advances
recip throttles to T.O. power (determined by alt and temp)

During this time, the P is steering down the runway with the hydraulic steering tiller (nose wheel steering) on his left side panel. CP is holding the yoke down to keep the nose wheel on the ground for steering. He is also calling out speeds as they accelerate.

:45 - P takes the yoke in both hands whenever he feels he has sufficient rudder authority to let go of the tiller. CP takes over the recip throttles.

:56 - CP or P calls "Positive rate" (refers to rate of climb), P calls for gear up, CP throws the gear handle with his left hand. P takes the recip throttles.

1:06 - P calls for Meto Power (Maximum except Take-off), CP pulls prop lever back to climb power. P sets recip throttles to climb MP.

1:24 - CP reduces jets to METO power.

That's about it. The Pilot flies the plane, looking out the window. The co-pilot is scanning the gauges constantly, looking for proper temperatures and pressures on a host of things.

Conair T-48 (DC-6)

2011-11-28T15:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a nice video of Conair tanker 48, a DC-6 from 1990. You will see her being loaded with retardant, taking off and then dropping on the Thunder Fire that burned near La Ronge, Saskatchewan (Canada) in June 1990.

I believe but am not certain that you see a Firecat early in the video as well as a CL-215 a little later.

A belated Happy Turkey Day

2011-11-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Duff fires in northern CA: A tanker pilot's story from 1978

2011-11-23T23:49:00.000-05:00

My friend, Tom Janney, wrote me a couple of days after I wrote about peat fires two weeks ago. He said:

Your writing about peat fires reminds me a lot of duff fires, particularly in the Northern California coastal areas. This story was related to me by my Father during his assignment in Northern California during the summer of 1978. Dad and I only talked about it once...and that was 33 years ago, thus with age and time, I can't claim 100% accuracy

Back in 1978, my Dad was sent to Rohnerville Air Attack Base (about 100 miles South of the Cal/Oregon border, on the coast) for that fire season. Having never been stationed that far North before, he realized it was a different world when it came to fighting fire.

As the thunderstorms would roll in off the ocean, they'd hammer the Redwood forest from the shore to about 150 miles inland. I remember my Dad telling me of his first night of storms up there. They woke him up about Midnight and continued for a good 2 or 3 hours, then subsided and cleared out. Still in the SoCal mode of thinking, he was at the airport shortly before sunrise, ready to fly. After about a 3 hour wait, everyone slowly started flowing onto the base. At first, Dad had a hard time comprehending why there was no immediate action like there was down South. Welcome to duff fire.

As the coastal moisture and daily rain keeps the top 12 -18 inches of soil wet and damp pretty constantly, everything below that is dry. When I say everything below, I'm talking in feet - sometimes maybe 30 or 40 feet. Duff is the accumulation of Pine needles under the trees that pile up over time. As they eventually start to mulch out, the Pine oil that is resident within the needles themselves leaches out and forms in little pockets that crystallizes. As the lightning strikes the trees, most of the electrical charge follows the sap down to the roots and discharges there. I think you see where this is going!

Anyhow, the morning after these thunderstorms, usually an air attack or spotter plane will fly a certain route through the inland forest range, noting the smokes on the ground. The lumber companies paid for these flights to keep check on their harvest areas. Unless there was visible flame, nothing was ever done...as the fire was burning deep down in the duff. Duff fires usually put themselves out over the course of a day or two, so there was not an immediate rush to scramble tankers or ground crews. Occasionally, a lightning strike would drop a limb or two and ignite the top layer of duff. One or two tanker drops and it was a done deal. Fires burn very slow in that area. I don't think Dad ever got over how slow everyone reacted to reports of fire up there. A call would come in, notes and location were written down...and the feet would go back up on top of the desk. Not moving from the office chair, the base Captain would look up at the map on the wall and study it for a few minutes. "We'll check it out after lunch" was a common ritual.

Dad enjoyed his one season up there. Clean air, good fishing and wonderful people, but he asked that he never get sent there again. It was just too slow of a pace for him. Tactics have changed over time, as well as equipment, however, it's still a slower paced response than most anywhere else. I think the one thing that bothered him the most, was the Redwood harvesting. When you drive up US Hwy 1, all you see for miles are these stately Redwoods, towering over everything. From the air, the forest only exists for about a quarter mile off the highway and is non-existent from there. Clear-cutting had stripped a lot of forest that was hundreds of years old to nothing but bare land. A year or two after the cut, they'd come back in and replant certain areas, while letting nature take it's course in others. With the advent of Google Earth, the scars on the land are evident yet today. Most of the lumber companies have shut down or relocated to another State, as logging regulations haves changed since 1978. Eventually, the forest will grow back and duff fires will be someone else's problem - in about 100 years or so.

The fire images below here are all from lightening strikes. The geographical area is anywhere within 75 miles of Fortuna, California. This was all within the Humboldt-Del Norte Ranger Unit (as of 1978).

7 miles east of of Hydesville CA

S2 making a drop


PB4Y2 making a drop

Rohnerville AAB from the air (1978)

Northern Maine Wildfire (1992): Helo Ride Along

2011-11-21T16:56:00.000-05:00

Ride along with Mr. Harold Jones in a Maine Forest Service UH-1H Helo to a 1992 wildfire in Northern Maine. According to the info on youtube, Mr Jones died in 2007 at the age of 81. He worked for the Maine Forest Fire Service for 30 years, logging over 10,000 hours. The video Is presented by the Minnesota Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association. There are some great shots of the helo cockpit, you will see some footage of bucket work. More importantly and of special interest to me was listening to Mr. Jones talk about his experience doing bucket work with helos to fight wildfires in Maine.

Plan on about 35 minutes to watch the video.

Caughlin Fire (Reno, NV): update 2

2011-11-21T16:21:00.003-05:00

According to this report from the Morning Call, the Caughlin Fire in Reno NV was contained yesterday at 1,935 acres. In addition, you will want to see Bill Gabbert's latest report on the fire here. Bill, of Wildfire Today has reported on this fire on Nob 18 and Nov 20. Of interest to me was Bill's reporting that snow aided in the containment of the fire.

The cause of the fire may be due to downed electric wire, see this Washington Post report for more information.

Caughlin Fire (Reno NV): update #1

2011-11-19T12:13:00.003-05:00

video platform video management video solutions video player

The video embedded here is taken at the Skyline Canyon near the Caughlin Ranch in Reno NV. Here is a direct link to the ABC 6 video.

The fire burning in Reno NV, known as the Caughlin Fire has burning about 2,000 acres and destroyed about 20 homes. KOLO TV is reporting that a firefighter has been injured bringing the total injured to 17, go here for more information. Sadly, the fire is said to have lead to the death of an elderly gentleman as he was fleeing the fire, see this Chicago Tribune article for more information.

There is an inciweb page for the Caughlin Fire. I believe that air tankers and helos are not working the fire because of the winds.

This just in: wildfire near Reno NV

2011-11-18T12:42:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine just wrote to tell me about this 400 +/- fire near Reno. From what I understand 20 residences have been destroyed, and evacuations are in place.

This goes to show that wildfire season is not over in that part of the country.

Wildland Fire hotlist thread on fire

Las Vagas Sun article on fire

KOLO tv

About the NJ Pine Barrens

2011-11-18T10:41:00.000-05:00

Two great videos from the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. These and other videos by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance may be found on their youtube channel.

I have witnessed the growth of baby pitch pines after fires. It is awesome to see. To read some of my earlier posts about the NJ Pine Barrens, go here, the latest post is at the top.

Flying in favorable tail winds

2011-11-16T16:49:00.009-05:00

I ran across this video this morning. The Greek pilot who made the video died in a tanker crash. The aircraft that you see in the video are Canadair/Bombardier CL "super scooper" turbines. I do not know if either of the aircraft in the video is the one that crashed.

I'm not quite sure of the names of the pilots who died in the crash. The names were given in Greek on the you tube. I felt uncomfortable relying on the translator, and did not want to get it wrong.

I know that you, crew and tanker are flying in favorable tail winds. I look forward to meeting you one day, and we shall fly together.

Aerial Wildland Firefighting in South Africa

2011-11-14T13:57:00.003-05:00

As some of you know, I did spend some time in Malawi (north of South Africa) over four years ago. I am not sure if spending time at the international airport in Johannesburg South Africa counts as being in South Africa. However, when I came across this video on you tube yesterday, I thought about my time in Africa. I am not sure, but I may have flown over Nelspruit, South Africa on the flight from Johannesburg to Lilongwe Malawi.

I'd like to thank my friend who helped me identify the aircraft that you will see in the video: working the fire in the video are two different types of SEATS, an Air Tractor 802 and a Dromader M18; along with a UH-1 helo. The spotter aircraft is probably a Cessna 206 Centurian.

Updated Dec. 2, 2011. Thanks to my anonymous friend for telling us that there are three SEATs in this video: 1 AT-802 Air Tractor(yellow/blue); 1 Thrush (yellow/black); and 1 M-18 Dromader (round engine, 4 blade prop). I believe that the helo you see is a UH-1 helo.

Phragmites, marshes and brushfires

2011-11-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

I have lived in various locations on the east coast of the USA all my life in various states boarding the Ocean. I have spent a fair amount of time in various fresh and salt water wetland areas and am very familiar with a tall wetland invasive known as a phragmite or common reed. I have also lived near wetlands where phragmites had invaded the wetland where the agencies overseeing the wetland worked to control the invasive. I have also seen my fair share of fires in these marshes. Fortunately, the marsh fires that I saw posed next to no threat to residences but the smoke did interfere with traffic on nearby roads.

So, I was very interested when I came across and article from NY1 on efforts by the National Park Service to use a machine known as a marsh master to cut firelines in a marshy area of Staten Island to make the area safer for residents. I do recall at least one, possibly more brush fires in these Staten island marshes within the last couple of years. Go here to read about these efforts by the NPS in Staten Island.

I will be interested to see how things turn out in this area of Staten Island during the next fire season in the residential neighborhoods of Staten Island adjoining marshes.

Fires burning underground in peat

2011-11-09T10:45:00.006-05:00

The other day I was in the shift briefing section of the hotlist of the wildlandfire today where news articles about wildfire news in the US are posted. I saw an article about a fire burning in the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota. According to the inciweb page the fire, aka the Silo Fire, has burned about 200 acres. It started out as a prescribed burn on Aug. 23 with all going as planed until on or about Oct. 23 when it escaped prescription after four days of Red Flag conditions.

The fire, however, is not burning above ground. Rather most of the fire is burning underground in peat. What peaked my interest when I read this article in the Grand Forks Herald is the discussion on the difficulty in bringing such underground fires under control. I was especially interested in the discussion of the techniques used by wildland fire crews to battle the fire. These techniques are different than those employed in wildfires burning above ground, and you will want to read the article to learn more. Simply, instead of using air tankers and heavy ground equipment, the fire fighters use light ground vehicles with 300 gallon water tanks. The goal is to "surround and drown" the fires.

I then remembered the Honey Prairie Fire that is still burning in the Okfenokee Swamp in Georgia. This fire recently passed its six month birthday, having started from lightening on April 30, 2011. At the time I write this, it has burned 309,299 acres and is at 76% containment. Anyway, I remembered that some of the fire activity in the Honey Prairie Fire is burning underground in peat. So I went to the to review the inciweb page (obtained Nov. 9, 2011). This report says in part:

Incident Commander Steve Abbott says, 'We need a storm to dump at least six to eight inches of rainfall over the entire swamp to bring the water level up and extinguish the fire. The US Drought Monitor indicates that most of Georgia including the Okefenokee Swamp is in an extreme drought. The NOAA Drought Outlook predicts that drought will persist or intensify in the area through January 31, 2012. It does not look like the fire will be out soon.'

I now have a new appreciation of the difficulty in fighting fires burning underground in peat.

Oct 29 snow storm: thanks to utility and forestry crews!!

2011-11-08T17:52:00.003-05:00

As a friend of mine said to me recently, power restoration in New Jersey and elsewhere was a massive effort.

Focusing on NJ, I want to pause a moment to say thank-you.

Thanks to all the forestry crews who did the tree work. Some of you work for my town, county, and state. Others of you work with the utilities. And I'm sure that others of you came from out of state to help us out.

Thanks to an unknown number of private utility contractors.

I only know about utility crews from out of state from the JCP&L twitter feed and some references in local media. Thanks to utility crews from:

Pennsylvania
New York
Indiana
Georgia
Florida
Mississippi
North Carolina
Louisiana
Delaware
Alabama
South Carolina
Michigan
Kentucky
Wisconsin
West Virginia
And anyone else I didn't list here.

Last and by no means least, I want to thank the utility crews from Jersey Central Power and Light (my utility) PSE&G, and Orange and Rockland Utility. I live just a couple of miles from a JCP&L location so I saw for myself the bucket trucks congregating at that location, including JCP&L crews.

To my meter reader, I know that you were there doing whatever it is you do help the guys in the bucket trucks repair the electric lines. I know you are not stringing wires and the like, but I know that you provide whatever assistance that is within your abilities. Thank-you!

To those working customer service, answering telephones, thank-you!

Last week, I had a chance to thank someone from one of the forestry crews for their efforts. Just this morning, as I was taking the photo that you see above, a JCP&L employee came out to his truck. He saw me and wondered what I was doing. I told him about my blog, and about this post thanking all the utility workers who helped restore power. I thanked him. I told him that I was sorry that I was not able to get a photo of someone in a bucket truck doing repair work, but it wasn't possible. I went on to tell him that I did want to get a photo of a bucket truck for the article, the one you see here from JCP&L. I wish that I'd been able to get a photo of a bucket truck from an out-of-state utility, but I passed you on the road last week.

I may not have been able to get a photo of you working, but I'm here to say that I know you were here. Not only have I seen a lot of your bucket bucket trucks, but I have seen the repairs you made.

Thank-you!

Oct 29 2011 snowstorm - nine days later

2011-11-07T18:07:00.000-05:00

Nine days after the October snowstorm that brought down utility lines leading to power outages from Maryland to Maine, I can say that much progress has been made in my corner of NJ. In my travels around my county, I can say that roads that were closed last Friday due to downed trees and power lines are now open. I drove on one such road today and saw the repairs. New poles in place and it looked to me like the electric lines were in place. I'm no expert, but it looked to me like a couple of poles were downed in the storm of Oct. 29.

Similar repairs, albeit on a much smaller scale, were made a couple of miles down the street from me.

As I understand it, most of the power has been restored in NJ, with scattered outages remaining, see this News12NJ report . Connecticut is not quite as fortune. As I write this 64,000 are still without power, and power may not restored to those folk until this Wednesday (Nov. 9), see this report from WCBS for more info. To read about power restoration in Massachusetts, see this Boston Globe article. I don't know about the electric power situation in other states impacted by last Saturday's early snow storm in the northeast and mid atlantic.

Airtankers at tanker base in Austin TX Oct 3, 2011

2011-11-07T17:40:00.000-05:00

About a month ago a friend told me about the great video done by KVUE in Texas. I've been meaning to embed the video to share with all of you for awhile. One thing lead to another and to be honest I forgot about this particular video until I was going through some of my notes just now. So, I want to share this video with you. You will see both tankers, lead planes, and I believe that you may also see a CV-580 and her birddog (from Conair, our friends in Canada). I think, but am not certain, that many of these planes may no longer be in Texas.

Enjoy!

Always fire season somewhere

2011-11-04T16:10:00.000-04:00

As wildfire season may be winding down in parts of the U.S., I am reminded that it is always fire season somewhere. For example, the summer wildfire season is approaching in Australia. Recent rains may have provided relief from years long drought in Australia. But with the rains, grasses have grown raising fears of grass fires. Two media outlets in Australia, Geelong Advertiser and Sidney Morning Herald report on the possibilities of grass fires.

A wildfire is burning in a UNESCO world heritage site, La Reunion National Park on La Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The fires started on October 25 and have burned on the order of 6,400 acres with some 400 personnel responding. Go here for some information,

And in the U.S., Santa Anna Winds in Southern California continue to be a concern. See this Daily News (Los Angeles) article regarding fire concerns from a Santa Wind event on Nov. 2. Reports of two fires in California on Nov. 2, may be found in the California and Hawaii hotlist forums on wildlandfire.com: here and here.

update on late October snowstorm in the northeast

2011-11-02T16:38:00.000-04:00

Utility crews continue to work to restore power to New Jersey. Progress is being made, but it could be at least two more days until the last customer is restored.

As I was driving today I saw evidence of one of the problems plaguing utility and tree crews as they work to restore power: a tree leaning on another tree near some electrical lines. I reported this to the appropriate government agency. Point being that as utility crews restore power another tree could fall on a power line taking out more customers.

So we wait . . .

As do many others in the northeast.

Follow-up on 767 belly landing

2011-11-02T16:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I wrote here about a LOT airline 767 that made a safe belly landing in Warsaw Poland after a landing gear failure. I found a nice article from the Daily Mail in England reporting on the incident with a nice human touch, the article may be found here. It seems that the pilots knew of the landing gear failure long before landing in Poland so that everyone had time to prepare.

Again, kudos the pilots, the cabin crew, the air traffic controllers, and the responders at the Frederic Chopin International Airport in Warsaw Poland.

Boeing 767 makes safe belly landing in Poland

2011-11-01T17:26:00.006-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A LOT airline Boeing 767 that took off from Newark-Liberty International (NJ) last night made a safe belly landing at Frederic Chopin International Airport in Warsaw Poland earlier today. The flight from Newark NJ was routine until a warning light in the cockpit revealed that the landing gear was not down. A fighter jet did a visual check, emergency preparations were made at the airport including putting foam on the runway, and the pilots circled for 80 minutes dumping fuel. According to media reports, all aboard survived.

Kudos to the pilots!

The CBS affiliate in New York has a nice report about the belly landing with a video that I was unable to embed here. To read their article, view some photos and watch the video, go here.

Late October snowstorm in the northeast

2011-10-31T14:08:00.006-04:00

These two short videos represent what has been happening here in northwest New Jersey and other areas of the northeast and mid-atlantic since Oct. 29. I believe that the first video was shot on Saturday (10/29) sometime during the afternoon or early evening.

In my little corner of NW NJ, we had about five inches of heavy wet snow on Saturday, most of it in the span of about five or six hours during the middle of the day. However, areas just a few miles away got twice as much snow.

I took a drive around my town and near by towns just now. As I drove down my street to get some gas this morning, downed tree limbs were the rule. Peoples yards, including my own, are littered with downed tree limbs. You hope that they don't fall on your house, car, or power lines.

Of course, the trouble comes when limbs or trees fell on power lines. I saw some downed wires a couple of miles from my house, along the side of the road. As I drove to slightly higher and more rural areas, I passed three or four roads that were closed due to downed power lines. Forestry crews have to work with the downed trees before the utility crews can begin to work. Yet, I saw signs of progress. Early yesterday morning, the guy that plowed out my driveway told me that most of the nearest commercial strip was without power. This morning, they were powered. And I saw at least two caravans of utility trucks, and a third was parked at a lunch spot.

I am only writing about my corner of New Jersey. There are similar stories (or worse) from Maryland to Maine.

Early snow storm in northeast

2011-10-29T15:30:00.002-04:00

As many of you by no doubt know, we are having an early snow storm here in the northeast. Hopefully, I'll be posting an article this coming Monday, but if I don't then . . .

Cedar Fire - Oct. 29 2003

2011-10-29T15:27:00.010-04:00

In October 2003, the Cedar Fire (fueled by Santa Ana Winds) burned in Southern California, eventually burning 280,278 acres. Firefighter Steven Rucker died on October 29, 2003. Thirteen civilians died, 107 people were injured and over 2,700 buildings (residences, commercial buildings, and out buildings) were destroyed. See the Always Remember Memorial for Steven Rucker (Cedar Fire) for more information.

More videos of the Cedar Fire:

Santa Ana Winds: Cause and Effect

2011-10-28T16:00:00.000-04:00

Cause:

Effect (2008??):

Esperanza Fire: Remembering those who died on 10/26/06

2011-10-26T13:30:00.006-04:00

On a day when Santa Ana Winds are blowing in southern California with Red Flag warnings up, I want to pause and remember those who lost their lives fighting the Esperanza Fire in 2006. The Esperanza Fire was fueled by Santa Ana Winds. The fire eventually burned some 40,000 acres destroying 34 homes. Five firefighters died.

Let us pause and remember the five firefighters -- crew of San Bernardino National Forest Engine # 57 -- who died fighting that fire. Four died on the 26th, Pablo Cerda died on Oct. 31:

Capt. Mark Loutzenhizer, 43 of Idyllwild
Jason McKay, 27 of Phelan
Jess McLean, 27 of Beaumont
Pablo Cerda, 23 of Fountain Valley
Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20 of San Jacinto

We won't forgot you and our prayers go out to your family, friends, colleagues, and all those who love you.

Always Remember on the Espreanza Fire and the death of the crew of Engine 57.

Wildland Fire Hotlist Thread on remembering the Esperanza and Cedar Fires.

direct link to A tribute to USFS E57 video

One firefighter (Steven Rucker) died on October 29, 2003 fighting another Santa Ana Wind fueled fire, the Cedar Fire. I'll write more about that fire on October 29.

Santa Ana Winds later this week in Southern CA

2011-10-24T17:05:00.009-04:00

This time of year is Santa Anna Wind season in portions of southern California around Los Angeles. This means the possibility of elevated fire danger. So, fire season is still very much in the picture for these areas. As you will see from this article from the Press-Enterpirse, the air attack base at Hemet-Ryan is ready.

In October 2008, I posted a short article on santa ana winds where I linked to a webpage on Santa Ana Winds by Robert Fovell, professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of California. He also has a FAQ page on the santa ana winds.

I meant to write more about santa ana winds, but I don't think that I did. So, I'll be working on more articles about the santa ana winds over the next couple of weeks.

The NWS out of Los Angeles and Oxnard California (here is their website) has issued a special weather statement at 3:52 AM PDT on Monday, October 24 for moderate santa ana winds and very low relative humidities for late Wednesday Oct. 24 through Friday October 26. They have an excellent graphic of this wind advisory that may be found here, and I should warn you that this graphic seems to updated regularly. So, don't be surprised if you see a different graphic.

For Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, peak wind gusts in the mountains are expected to be 40 to 50 mph and slightly lower in the valleys (35 to 45 mph).

I'll be keeping on eye on this and if anything of note develops firewise during this expected santa ana wind event, I'll let you know.

Update on Oct. 25, 3:10 PM EDT. I just checked out the NWS - Los Angeles/Oxnard CA webpage and saw a different graphic, dated Oct. 24, 10:24 PM PDT. And perhaps by the time you read this there will be yet another graphic, or perhaps none at all if the santa ana wind event is past.

Here is the special weather statement from the NWS that I referred to earlier:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
352 AM PDT MON OCT 24 2011

CAZ034>041-044>046-051>054-059-087-088-547-548-250100-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY CENTRAL COAST-
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY CENTRAL COAST-SANTA YNEZ VALLEY-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY INTERIOR VALLEYS-CUYAMA VALLEY-
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST-VENTURA COUNTY COAST-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY COAST INCLUDING DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES-
VENTURA COUNTY INTERIOR VALLEYS-VENTURA COUNTY COASTAL VALLEYS-
SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS RECREATIONAL AREA-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-SANTA BARBARA COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
VENTURA COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MOUNTAINS EXCLUDING THE SANTA MONICA RANGE-
ANTELOPE VALLEY-CATALINA ISLAND-SANTA CLARITA VALLEY-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SAN FERNANDO VALLEY-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SAN GABRIEL VALLEY-
352 AM PDT MON OCT 24 2011

...MODERATE SANTA ANA WINDS WITH VERY LOW HUMIDITIES EXPECTED
LATE WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...

HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO THE GREAT BASIN ON WEDNESDAY...
RESULTING IN INCREASING OFFSHORE FLOW OVER SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA
FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY. GUSTY NORTHEAST CANYON WINDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH AND BELOW THE FAVORED PASSES AND CANYONS OF VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES...WHERE SOME AREAS MAY HAVE ADVISORY LEVEL WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 40 AND 50 MPH. BY THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...OFFSHORE FLOW WILL PERSIST BUT THE NORTHEAST WINDS WILL NOT BE QUITE AS STRONG.

THE OFFSHORE FLOW WILL IMPORT VERY DRY AIR INTO THE REGION AS WELL.
ON WEDNESDAY...AFTERNOON RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL FALL IN THE LOW
TEENS AND SINGLE DIGITS ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. THESE LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES WILL THEN SPREAD INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND VALLEYS ON
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. THE OFFSHORE WINDS WILL RESULT IN VERY POOR
OVERNIGHT RELATIVE HUMIDITY RECOVERY. THE LOW HUMIDITIES COMBINED
WITH GUSTY CANYON WINDS LATE WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING WILL
RESULT IN HEIGHTENED FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS. THERE WILL BE THE
POTENTIAL FOR RED FLAG CONDITIONS DURING THE PERIOD...ESPECIALLY
FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES INCLUDING
THE SANTA MONICA RANGE...AND THE SANTA CLARITA VALLEY. A FIRE
WEATHER WATCH MAY EVENTUALLY BE NEEDED FOR THESE AREAS AS WE
DRAW CLOSER TO THE EVENT.

AS THE OFFSHORE FLOW DEVELOPS...A WARMING TREND CAN BE EXPECTED
WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...BUT HOT CONDITIONS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED.
THE MOST NOTICEABLE WARMING WILL OCCUR ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH
MANY COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS IN THE UPPER 70S TO MID 80S.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA FOR THE
LATEST UPDATES ON THIS SITUATION.

1991 Oakland Hills Fire

2011-10-21T12:44:00.000-04:00

I was on the wildlandfire hotlist forums this morning when I came across this thread on the 1991 Oakland Hills Fires that burned from Oct. 19 to Oct. 22, 2001. I was curious so I followed the links referred to in that hotlist forum thread. The first one is from the the Mercury Newst about a photographer, Richard Misrach. who witnessed and then photographed the fire.

In addition there was a link to Always Remember where I learned more about this fire. I learned that the fire destroyed 3,354 structures, 790 in one hour on a Sunday morning after the fire went out of control. The fire started later in the day on a Saturday, by later Saturday evening the blaze was confined to five acres and was to be mopped up on Sunday morning. Only Sunday morning came with Red Flag conditions and high winds. During mop-up, a spark got away in the winds and the fire was out of control by about 11:15 AM. By noon, 790 homes were destroyed. You will want to read the Always Remember article and follow the links at the bottom of that page to view some photos of the fire.

Twenty-five people died including at least two responders.

I'd like to thank the webmaster of the NJFFS Section B10 website for embedded the video. When I watched the video, the final piece to today's article fell in place.

I am glad that my wonderings on the web this morning brought this catastrophic fire to my attention. At the time of the fire, I believe that I was completely immersed in some graduate school exams. So it is entirely possible that I knew nothing about this fire. I do know, and am stunned by the amount of damage done.

Update on wildfires in the eastern U.S.

2011-10-19T13:36:00.000-04:00

Honey Prairie Fire (GA/FL)
The Honey Prairie Fire continues in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. According to the latest inciweb information available at the time I write this article (October 14), the fire continues to creep and smolder, advancing on the order of one-quarter of mile since the middle of September. The acreage burned stands at 309,173 acres with 72 people working the fire, and it is 76% contained. The Refuge is open.

Pagami Creek Fire (MN)
The Pagami Creek Fire in the Superior National Forest and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area (BWCWA) continues to burn. Areas previously closed in the Superior National Forest and the BWCWA are open. According to the latest report from Inciweb, the fire has burned 92,682 acres and is at 91% containment.

Lateral Fire, Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (VA)
In my wonderings on the internet in September, I saw a news report somewhere that a fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was continuing to burn even after receiving several inches of rain. Unfortunately, I did not make a note of that news report. But I kept my eyes open, and saw this Washington Post article on the fire, reporting on the fact that it still burns in spite of receiving heavy rains in prior weeks.

According to the latest inciweb report, this fire (known as the Lateral Fire) has burned 6,577 acres and is 90% contained. It is burning on the ground in peat fuels.

TBM Avenger Tanker 13 (Bu# 53200, N9101C, CGLEL)

2011-10-17T14:42:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, I wrote that TBM Avenger Tanker #13 arrived in the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula, MT. I continue with a brief history of TBM Avenger #13.

1945: Construction number # 3262
1945-52: US Navy Bureau # 53200
1952-58: Royal Canadian Navy #377
1958-69: Hillcrest Aviation, Lewiston, ID. N9101C. Flew as airtanker, #D6
1969-72: Johnson Flying Service, Missoula, MT. Flew as airtanker #A13
Late 1974: sold to Forest Protection Limited, New Brunswick, CA.
1975-2010: Forest Protection Limited (FPL), A13, 13
1975-93: aerial spray (Budworm, etc)
1993-4, 1996: fire suppression (spare)
1995, 1997-2010: Fire suppression

References for history of TBM Avenger #13
The Warbird Registry's page on TBM Avenger Bureau # 52300 may be found here.

There is a nice website with information archives for TBM Avengers and Forest Protection Limited that may be found here. There is a lot of history here relating to FPL's Avengers as well as TBM's from the U.S. and other Canadian operators used for budworm spraying operations in New Brunswick. You could spend hours on this site. These TBM Avenger/FPL information archives has a nice page devoted to C-GLEL, #13 with her history, names of pilots who flew her, and pictures. Please spend some time on this page to get to know #13.

The video embedded below shows FPL TBM Avenger #24, a sister tanker to #13. Here is a picture of FPL's fleet of air tankers in 2001 , including #13 and #24.:

I have grown to love #13 through spending a couple of hours on the TBM Avenger/FPL information archives. I expect that the folk at FPL and in Fredericton New Brunswick are very sad to her go. I hope that they can take some consolation that many in Missoula, MT are overjoyed to have her at the Museum of Mountain Flying. She is loved by many in Missoula and will be loved by many, many more.

A bit of aerial firefighting history: TBM Avenger air tanker arrives in Missoula

2011-10-14T17:53:00.009-04:00

The other day, I read with interest Bill Gabbert's (of Wildfire Today) article on new and old tankers. He wrote about a drop that Neptune Aviation's new jet tanker, T-40 made on a fire in Texas, including a picture. But, it was his reporting on TBM Avenger Air Tanker (T-13) arrival at the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula Montana on Oct. 10 that caught my eye. Bill referenced two articles from the Missoulian, one on Oct. 8 and another on Oct. 10, at the same time a friend of mine referred me to the Oct. 10 Missoulian article. The byline on both articles is Kim Briggeman.

Simply, the Museum of Mountain Flying was able to secure funding to purchase TBM Avenger T-13, from Forest Protection Limited. She arrived with great fanfare in Missoula on Oct. 10 after a three day flight from New Brunswick, Canada.

I went and read the articles on the Missoulian website, and I hope you will too. Reading the article, I found out that T-13 was a part of Johnson Flying Service's fleet of tankers, flying as tanker A-13. You can read about this history of Missoulia International Airport operations including the Johnson Flying Service here. Johnson Flying Service was based in Missoula and sold A-13 along with five other Avengers to Forest Protection Limited of New Brunswick, Canada in 1974 where she flew as a fire bomber and spraying insects.

Among the interesting pieces of "trivia" that I learned from the Oct. 10th article was that Johnson's six Avengers did spraying in Maine in 1973. This interested me because I used to spend summer vacations camping on the Maine coast as a youth in the 1960s through 1970 and again a couple of trips to the same camping spot in the late 1970s. I had this idea as a youth that airplanes were used to spray for insects. I have no clue where the Avengers sprayed in 1973, perhaps they sprayed in the northern Maine forests. I have no clue if the Avengers sprayed on the Maine coast (for Mosquitos??). But, where ever they were, I rather enjoy the image of these Avengers spraying in Maine in 1973. I wasn't in Maine that summer, but that doesn't seem to matter.

What came across to me through reading the reporting of Kim Briggeman in the Missoulian is that "A-13" is loved in Missoula. I feel a sort of bond with "A-13" and the other Johnson TBMs because they flew in Maine at least one summer.

But I also know that "A-13" flew for Forest Protection Limited (FPL) for thirty plus years under registration number C-GLEL, tanker 13. In my article on October 17, I'll write more about her history including her military service and her years with FPL. Stay tuned

New Jersey Forest Fire Service Ops during and after Irene

2011-10-12T18:04:00.000-04:00

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) does more than fight wildfires. The aftermath of Hurricane Irene provided but one example of non-fire related emergencies that the NJFFS are involved with. The following list may not include all the assistance provided by the NJFFS in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. And it does not reflect any NJFFS assistance provided in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Lee and other heavy rain events in September.

Assisted in rescuing approximately 30 senior citizens and their pets from mobile homes in Buena Vista.

Deployed 6x6 high wheeled trucks to various Counties around the State at various time after Irene including but not limited to Morris, Passaic, Cape May and Salem Counties. The crew in these trucks assisted with various emergency duties including but not limited to evacuations from flooded residential areas.

Deployed a saw team to Egg Harbor Twsp to assist in tree removal from roads.

Water buffalos (a kind of water tank on wheels) were deployed to West Milford in northern Passaic County.

Bull dozers and backhoes crewed by the NJFFS assisted with road repair in Stokes State Forest (Sussex County).

NJFFFS saw crews along with crews in bull dozers and back hoes repaired roads and removed trees and debris in Alliare State Park and Monmouth Battlefield (Monmouth County)

Saw crews assisted with tree removal in Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park (Hunterdon, Mercer counties).

For more information see this thread on the wildland fire hotlist.

Kudos to the NJFFS! Thank-you.

Tribute to Aero Union

2011-10-10T16:46:00.003-04:00

An awesome tribute to Aero Union by the Envenomator1. Please go here and click on more to read what he has to say.

To all my friends at Aero Union, you are not forgotten.

CL-415 (turbo) scooper

2011-10-07T19:46:00.037-04:00

I've got a couple of projects in the pipeline for future blog articles. In the meantime, I found this nice video on the Canadian built Bombardier CL-415 scooper. The CL-415 is purpose built fire bomber. It is an amphibious aircraft that "scoops" water out of a water body for eventual dropping on a fire. Originally built by Canadair , the CL-415 evolved from the CL-215 (also an amphibious aircraft. The original CL-215 had piston engines. Canadair started out by modifying some CL-215 airframes by, among other things, adding turbo props and calling them CL-215T's, Eventually, they built new airframes with turbo prop engines with the designation, CL-415. For more on the CL-415 see:

wikipedia on CL 415
Bombardier super scooper page

Two or three CL-215's had been flying fires in the U.S. during the later portion of the summer and possibly into September. I'm not quite sure if they are still in the U.S. at the moment. According to altadena (CA) online, the CL-415s will be in LA County through Nov. 31, 2011.

According to this Sept. 6, 2011 post on smokeshowin, the Quebec Government-owned CL-415s (Tankers #240 and #241) are based out of Van Nuys airport and had already worked two fires. This is the eighteenth year that LA County has contracted with Quebec for two CL-415s.

Thank-you Canada!

update on Oct. 7, 2011 9:39 AM EDT: A good friend told me that the video that I embedded yesterday may have been of a model. Further, some of the maneuvers that were done are not maneuvers that occur on normal fire bombing runs. While the vide is fun to watch and nicely done, I wanted to show a CL 415 fire bomber. So, I went to you tube and found the video that I embedded here, honoring the men and women of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources aviation and forest fire management program.

Other wildfire aerial tactical operations

2011-10-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

I have found myself thinking a lot about other wildfire aerial tactical operations recently. By these other operations, I am thinking about aerial tactical operations that may also be referred to as aerial supervision operations. In the video that I embedded here you are seeing one such type of aerial supervision, that of a lead plane leading in a tanker on a retardant drop. For the record, I am aware that the job of a lead plane pilot involves a lot more than what you are seeing in this video. I am hoping to write an article or two later this fall or early this winter devoted to lead planes.

There are also air tactical group supervisors (ATGS )who I believe manage the air space and air traffic over a fire.

In an Aerial Supervision Module, a crew of two is in an aircraft over the fire. The air tactical pilot who may also be a lead plane pilot flies the plane. The second person as an ATGS.

The Aerial Supervision Guide (NWCG) goes into a lot of detail about lead planes, ATGS, ASMs, and other air tactical operations.

CAL FIRE uses OV-10A's for their air tactical operations to supervise aircraft on wildfires working with the incident commander on the ground. The OV-10's have a crew of two, the pilot and a supervisor. As I understand it, the crew does not lead the tankers into a drop, but they do tell the CAL FIRE tankers and helps where to make their retardant drops.

The Canadians call their two-person air tactical planes birddogs. Some states use observation aircraft. There is a nice, short description of Conair's (Abbostford, BC) here., along with some nice photos of the Conair's fleet of A-26 tankers now retired from service).

All these operations deserve much more time than I can devote at this time. As I said earlier, I hope to write more about lead planes in a few weeks. At that time, I also hope to write about Aerial Supervision Modules, Birddogs, CAL FIRE's air tactical operations, and other operations that I have not listed here (including helo supervision) Until I do, please remember that there are often aerial tactical operations in place over a wildfire.

I am reminded of a phrase that I have used here before, something that Larry Kraus pilot of Bulter's T-62 told me when we were corresponding about T-62:

"see I told you that the tanker business is complicated"

So I'll add, the business of air tactical operations over wildfires are complicated.

To all who are crew of tactical aircraft working wildfires, I know that you are there. Thank-you.

Fire and fuel breaks in NJ's wildland urban inerface

2011-10-03T13:03:00.000-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to learn a little about fire management practices in the wildland urban interface in the pinelands in central and southern NJ through attending a day long Forest Stewardship Firewise Tour. One of the fire management practices that I learned about that day are fire and fuel breaks. I got a handout that morning: Wildfire: Best management practices for creating and maintaing wildfire fuelbreaks in New Jersey's Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is available on the NJ Forest Fire Service's website at this location (a pdf file). This document starts with some definitions, some that I will include here and then moves on to a discussion of what the individual homeowner living in the WUI can do.

Further, fire and fuel breaks are also built and maintained along natural or constructed "roads" through the WUI. In February of 2010, I wrote about firebreaks that were planned for Barnegat NJ, go here to see that article. I had a chance to visit one such fire and fuel break in Stafford Township, NJ within the burn area of 15,000 acre 2007 Warren Grove fire. To be honest, I'm not quite sure if this was the firebreak that I wrote about in February 2010, but I don't think that really matters.

I'll start with briefly summarizing some definitions from the document I referred to earlier, Wildfire: Best management practices for creating and maintaing wildfire fuelbreaks in New Jersey's Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) :

Firebreak: A natural or constructed barrier used to stop or check fires
that occur, or to provide a control line from which to work.

Fuelbreak: A natural or manmade change in fuel characteristics that
affect fire behavior so that fires burning into them can be more readily
controlled and managed.

Keeping these definitions in mind, I had a chance to visit the Hay Rd. fire and fuel break in Stafford Township, NJ within the burn area of the 2007 Warren Grove fire.

Here are some pictures that I took that day. Hay Rd. itself is the firebreak. The fuel break is on one side of the road. Hay Rd. is a sand road a little to the north west of the Stafford Township Recycling Center, that may be found on this image from wikimapia.

Other relevant links of interest from the NJ Forest Fire Service website:

Wildfire hazard mitigation
Prescribed burning
Fire planning (including links at bottom of page)
Fire hazard regulations
Definitions

EAA Airventure night air show highlights

2011-10-01T08:48:00.003-04:00

Reflections on the Sunrise Fire sixteen years later

2011-09-30T15:46:00.000-04:00

The summer of 1995 in the NY-NJ-CT metropolitan area was a dry one. By the time August 24th rolled around, I believe that eastern Long Island had not seen any rain in twenty-two days. Vegetation was dry, fire danger was high. This was the day that the Sunrise Fire started in the Long Island Pine Barrens near Westhampton. The fire was fueled by very strong winds during the first eight hours, and by thirty-two hours it had grown to over 5,200 acres jumping the multi-lane Sunrise Highway.

Wind driven flames in the eastern end of Long Island, fifty miles east of one of the largest cities in the U.S.

Wind driven flames in an area that had not seen a fire of size and magnitude in some sixty years, when the area was largely agricultural before it was a bedroom community for New York City and suburban office complexes.

Wind driven flames along the Sunrise Highway, one of the main roads into and out of the south fork of eastern Long Island.

Wind driven flames that partially destroyed the Westhampton station of the Long Island Railroad.

Wind driven flames that threatened dozens and dozens of homes and businesses.

Wind driven flames fought by firefighters who wondered if the winds would ever stop driving the flames.

Wind driven flames that were fought by 174 fire departments from Long Island and New York City along with the Army and Air National Guard. Let’s not forget state, regional, and federal crews and resources that came to help.

No one died fighting these wind driven flames.

Wind driven flames that serve as a reminder to those of us in the northeast and the midatlantic regions of the U.S. that major wildfires can happen in our wildland-urban interface.

The winds died down, the fire was under control on Tuesday, August 29.

Only one residence and six “stump jumpers” were destroyed. Seventeen residences, a lumber yard were partially destroyed. It could have been a whole lot worse.

It wasn’t a whole lot worse.

It wasn’t a whole lot worse because of all the men and women who fought the fire.

Thank-you.

T-40 going to Texas

2011-09-29T13:14:00.000-04:00

This just in, the Missoulian is reporting that Neptune's BAe-146 T-40 is, or will be soon, on her way to fly wildfires in Texas. T-40 is jet powered and can carry at least 3,000 gallons of retardant. You will want to read the article, and watch a video shot from iside T-40, on this this Missoulian webpage.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports on T-40's activation here.

Flying

2011-09-28T16:39:00.000-04:00

Thomas and Cherry from Tali Y D on Vimeo.

I am reminded of what flying is really about. Every once in a while I see an Eagle or a Red Tailed Hawk when I am out on an air experience flight. In fact, I had two such experiences this summer. In both cases they were Eagles, one time a pair of Eagles. We humans have to work at flying, To quote a pilot friend of mine, "to the birds it is just flying."

More videos of birds of prey in flight:

Thanks to a good friend who sent me a link to this wonderful video of an owl in flight.

Flight of the Eagle

Honey Prairie Complex Fires still burning

2011-09-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

obtained from http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2214/ on September 26, 2011

I was reminded last week during my wonderings on the internet last week that the Honey Prairie Complex Fires that started a lightening strike on April 28 continue to burn. As I write this, it is almost five later and the fire has burned about 308,780 acres as of September 15, 2011, primarily in the Okefenokee National Wildlfire Refuge. It is 76% contained as I write this. Smoke from these fires have been noticeable recently in the region.

On the web:
Inciweb page on the Honey Prairie Fire
USFWS - Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge -- Honey Prairie Complex Fires
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on Facebook (public)

Vermont is open for business

2011-09-26T13:43:00.004-04:00

Those of you who may have been following my blog recently regarding the devastating flash flooding to portions of central and southern Vermont may be discouraged from visiting Vermont. To the contrary, many areas previously inaccessible are now accessible, many roads that were closed are now re-opened, and businesses have worked hard to reopen. So, if you have been thinking about taking a trip to Vermont this fall, I hope that follow through and go to Vermont. Some roads are still closed, but you should be able to get around the central and southern areas of the state.

Vermont resources:

google map of Vermont closures and openings from Irene and other flooding
Vermont Transit Irene Response on Twitter
Vermont Transit Irene Response on Facebook
Vermont Agency of Transportation Irene Response webpage
VT Ski Resorts Use Social Media to Stress They'll Open (report from Vermont Public Radio

This just in - BAe-146 receives interim approval

2011-09-23T20:14:00.003-04:00

This just in from Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today. Bill just wrote that BAe-146 tanker 40 (Neptune Aviation and Tronos) has received interim approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board, go here to read Bill's article.

Awesome!

Footage of groundpounders in OR

2011-09-23T20:10:00.000-04:00

When I first saw this video, I was reminded that tankers and helos fly fires to support the men and women on the ground fighting wildfires.

Minnesota wildfires

2011-09-22T13:04:00.000-04:00

While I was in Vermont, I first heard about the Pagami Creek Fire in Minnesota that has burned 93,699 acres. It started last month, from a lightening strike. There were evacuations.

Here is a report from WISN on Sept. 19. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on the Pagami Creek Fire on Sept. 21, and Sept. 16, and on Sept. 14.

You will see from Bill's reporting that smoke from this fire had a far reaching impact. In addition, in yesterday's post, he reports on local criticism of the management of the fire.

Airtanker numbers (part 2)

2011-09-20T14:19:00.000-04:00

On September 9, a couple of days before I went to Vermont, a friend of mine sent me a link to a statement from US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell on Aircraft Support for Texas, Other Wildfires Throughout the Country.

If you go and look at the document, you will see a list of the (then?) current fleet of aircraft. My curiosity was aroused by the mention that the fleet included "17 Large Air Tankers which have a capacity of delivering an average of over 2000 gals of water or retardant per trip". I went to the EGBCC Airtanker status page to see how many Airtankers are listed. Note that this site is updated daily. As I write this, I am seeing that the Airtanker status listing for Sept. 20, 2011 includes six Convair 580s. This is three more Convairs than I saw listed on September 9, 2011(trust me, ok?) when the Airtanker status listing for that day reflected only three Convair 580s. As an asid, I went to the Airtanker status page yesterday and saw only three Convairs listed.

Ok, so today (September 20, 2011), there are 17 Large Airtankers (11 P-2s plus six Convair 580s) listed on the EGBCC Airtanker status page, which equals the number referred to in Tidwells statement.

Lets talk about the MAFFS (modular airborne firefighting systems) for a moment. I know that there are a total of eight military C-130s (Air National Guard or Reserve). The MAFFS are called up when all other civilian airtankers are working fires. In Tidwell’s statement (referred to earlier), he mentioned “8 military aircraft specially outfitted to fight fires with an average capacity of 3000 gals.” I am pretty confident that these are the MAFFS, and that of the eight C-130 MAFFS, there may be a smaller number that are currently activated. For example, in todays Airtanker status listing, only four C-130 MAFFs are activated. If memory serves, and again you’ll have to trust me on this, there were six C-130 MAFFS activated a week or so ago. So, at least in regards to the MAFFS, there is some fluidity in the number that may be activated at any one time.

One of the reasons that I am talking about airtanker numbers (again) is because I want to refer you to a very nice article that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote on September 13, 2011 and updated on September 14. He refers to the same statement by Tidwell that I discussed earlier, offering his analysis and comments. Some of you may have already seen this. Before I provide the link to Bill’s article, please note that he refers to six (and possibly) seven C-130 MAFFS that were on active status last week. If you read his article as well as the comments, you will see a discussion about the number of Convair 580s that were working fires in the U.S. last week. Bill had confirmation from the USFS that there were eight Convairs working fires last week. Why these Convairs are not all reflected in the EGBCC Airtanker Status listings, I can not say. Nor do I know for certain if there are six or eight Convairs (with two not being listed in the EGBCC Airtanker Status) working fires in the U.S. this week. Anyway, you may find Bill’s September 13 article here. I found this article to be very informative so I am sharing it with you.

In parting, a final point is that whether there are 17 or 19 Large Airtankers (civilian: P-2s and Convair 580s), the figure is significantly lower than the 41 or 42 Large Airtankers ( see my Aug. 3 article on Airtanker numbers (part 1).

Seventeen or nineteen (civilian) Large Airtankers is not enough.

Reflections after Irene and Lee

2011-09-19T17:54:00.000-04:00

I admit that my thoughts have been with New Jersey and Vermont in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, I am very mindful that both of these storms impacted many States in the south and east.

You see, as I was reflecting on what has been happening here in NJ with yet more flooding some of it at historic levels, I thought about the residents in other states that are dealing with the aftermath of Irene. So, while I will be focusing here on NJ, I am thinking about all those affected by Irene and Lee.

Power was back on here in NJ anywhere from 1 to 8 days after Irene passed. For the most part, major arteries that saw washouts after Irene or Lee are now open in NJ. There remains some bridge washouts and road closures, but you can get around, perhaps with delays due to detours. Schools are open. One might think that things are returning to normal. But for many residents as well as business owners and their employees, things are anything but normal. Flood waters may have gone down, but the clean-up is only beginning.

My heart goes out to the many residents and business owners in New Jersey affected by flooding, some of whom have seen two or more floods over the last two to six years. Many are weary of the flooding, of having to clean out their flood damaged homes, leaving their water logged belongings on the curb for pickup by their town. They have to start over again, yet again. Some will be wondering where the money will come from. For those who have flood insurance, what will the insurance pay for. Will FEMA be able to help, and if the FEMA help is in the form of a low-interest loan, can they afford the debt? What happens when costs are not covered by flood insurance, or FEMA grants or loans?

Words are inadequate

Then there is the emotional costs. How do you compensate for that. Some residents are hoping that FEMA will provide money to buy their homes so they can move somewhere else. But if there is money available for these buy outs, it often does not come close to covering what they may have put into their homes.

Words are inadequate

If anything, I am stunned by the magnitude of the floods both here in NJ and elsewhere in the east. I am also stunned to know that many were impacted by floods who live in what are (or were) low flood risk areas. What of them? Some may have chosen not to get flood insurance for whatever reason.

Words are inadequate.

Video and related article dated September 8, 2011. 80791. Lincoln Park is on the Rockaway River (a tributary of the Passaic River).

A lot going on

2011-09-16T14:20:00.000-04:00

I have recently returned from a few days in Vermont and am still playing catch up with news from the world of aerial wildland firefighting and wildland fires in general. I'll resume posting about aerial wildland firefightinf and wildland fires in a couple of days.

I'll continue with periodic updates about what is going post Irene in Vermont. And I haven't forgotten about my own State of NJ, also hard hit by flooding from Irene and Lee.

2011 Vermont flooding: update #2

2011-09-16T14:13:00.003-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Having just returned home yesterday after spending three days in northeastern VT where I spent much time listening to Vermont Public Radio's coverage of the aftermath of the Hurricane Irene. I was especially interested in the progress that they are making with repairing road washouts and bridge damage. As you can see in the video clip that I embedded above from Rachel Maddow's Sept 15 show on MSNBC, progress is being made. Reopening U.S. Rte. 4 from Rutland to Bridgewater (see image below) is huge.

There is still a lot more work that needs to be done. The Vermont Agency of Transportation has devoted their "511.vt.com" page to Hurricane Irene related resources. Those of you who like to play around with interactive google maps, might like to check out this interactive map of current road closures and openings from Irene. I used the kml file that I downloaded from this interactive map to show you the above image. The road colored purple is only opened to authorized vehicles. The roads in yellow (including one stretch of U.S. Rte. 4) is open with limited access with delays. Limited access with delays is a lot better than no access or authorized (emergency) vehicles only.

2011-09-14T09:21:00.002-04:00

A compilation of footage from the 2011 CA fire season shot in HD by Nick Mitchell.

Texas wildfires again (update #4)

2011-09-12T06:09:00.011-04:00

A video uploaded to youtube on Sept, 7, 2011.

There are images of charred animal remains that some might find disturbing - approximate times (minutes and seconds) are 4m47s-4m48s, 4m54s-4m55s, and 5:35- 6m00s.

Maine National Guard helping to rebuild VT roads

2011-09-10T12:16:00.002-04:00

Thank-you Maine National Guard!

Texas wildfires again (update # 3)

2011-09-10T11:19:00.000-04:00

A short video showing a Blackhawk helo doing bucket work on the Bastrop Texas wildfires, uploaded on Sept. 7, 2011. You will want to check out the info on youtube from the videographer (click show more).

Happenings

2011-09-08T14:16:00.000-04:00

I have a couple of projects that I have been involved with recently and another one that I'll be doing much of next week. So, I haven't been able to spend quite as much time with this blog as I would like to. Thanks to all of you wonderful people for your patience.

Yes, there continues to be ongoing flooding here in NJ, thanks to heavy rains that we got last night. We are ok. I have also been following the flooding in Vermont, where I have interests. I don't quite have it in me to post about the flooding here, at least at this point. Those of you who are not living through this in your eastern State, have probably seen, heard or read reports from various news outlets.

Texas wildfires again (update #2)

2011-09-08T14:09:00.000-04:00

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today continues to do a fine job on reporting on the wildfires currently burning in Texas. Bill posted an article earlier today that may be found here. He reports that Bastrop County Complex has burned 34,068 acres and is 30 percent contained. 1,386 residences have been destroyed. I understand from Bill's article that the remains of two "civilians" have been found.

Bill reported earlier on the TX wildfires on Sept. 7 and I wrote about the Texas wildfires on Sept. 6.

Tanker status resources on the web

2011-09-08T13:53:00.000-04:00

I have recently come across what is currently a publicly available tanker status listing, updated daily. As I write this, the tanker status page may be accessed here. I'm not quite sure how long this information will be publicly available and I suspect that once all the tankers are off contract, the page will no longer be updated.

There is a lot of information here, some of which may be more information than you want. But you should get an idea of where tankers are assigned that day. I thought that some of you might find this information interesting, so I decided to write this article.

This tanker status page does not list SEATs, the Very Large Air Tankers (e.g. the DC-10 tankers), nor does it list helos. The one that I am looking at does list the P-2's, Two MAFFS, three of the Convairs, and three Canadair CL-215s.

Data fields such as the current GACC (Geographic Area Coordination Center), current dispatch, provider unit, and the incident number are coded, but I believe that the first two places in the alphanumeric coding are the two digit US state abbreviation. The current base (airport) may not be useful to you if you don't what state the base is in. But a search on the internet should help you figure out where the base is located.

I thought about trying to decipher one sample entry for you. However, while I have an idea of what most of the information refers to, I suspect that I will get some of the details wrong, so I won't try. At least not now because I am involved in a project that will take me several days to complete leaving me with limited time to update my blog. I'll see what I can do to follow-up on this in a future blog post.

Finally, speaking of the DC-10 tankers, some of you might be interested in knowing where the DC-10 tankers are located. I recently found out that the 10 Tanker Carrier has a twitter page that I was able to access just now without signing on to twitter. For example I understand from recent updates by 10tanker that at least one of the DC-10 tankers will be flying the wildfires currently burning in Texas, perhaps tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 9).

Texas wildfires, again

2011-09-06T09:51:00.003-04:00

Sadly, another round of devastating widfires has hit Texas over the last several days.. By now, many of you may have seen reports on the news., perhaps you have already seen the video from CNN that I have embedded here. At least two people have died, and over 400 homes have been destroyed. Evacuation orders are in place. There are many tankers and helos working the fire. Here are some links:

photo gallery from the sac bee including a P-2 (T-48), a seat, and some helicopters working the fire.

Bill Gabbert from WildfireToday reported on the wildfires yesterday, here.

Inciweb page on the 2011 Texas Wildfires

Guard Ships Supplies To Isolated Communities - Video - WPTZ Plattsburgh

2011-09-03T16:29:00.003-04:00

I've been on the hunt looking for videos of National Guard Helos bringing supplies to the towns in Vermont that were cut off from the outside as a result of Irene. As I write this, all of these town have some sort of access over what may be no more than goat paths through the mountains. And most are powered. But earlier in the week before these isolated communities had emergency vehicle access by land, the National Guard airlifted supplies. Here is a link to some footage, you will see Blackhawks and a Chinook.

Guard Ships Supplies To Isolated Communities - Video - WPTZ Plattsburgh

Hill Fire - San Bernardion NF CA

2011-09-02T20:24:00.000-04:00

As I write this, I am watching live feed from KCAL in LA of the Hill Fire, the live stream that I am currently watching may be found here. Have been watching this feed with a 15 minute break for dinner for about one hour now.

As I understand it from the report on the KCAL page (see the link in the preceding paragraph), the Hill Fire has burned 800 acres and evacuations have been ordered. In the time that I have been watching I have seen the following aircraft working the fire: T-43 (P-2 from Neptune), one of the DC-10 tankers, 1 or more CAL FIRE S-2Ts (couldn't make out tail numbers), and one 'Crane.

I'd like to thank a friend who sent me a link to audio feed of the San Bernardino County System 1 - Fire Live Audio Feed from Radio Reference. My friend told me that there is a link in the wildland fire hotlist for the Hill Fire.

Get well Vermont

2011-09-01T16:50:00.003-04:00

I've owned seasonal property in northeastern Vermont for 30 years, and my family for 70 years before that. I am very saddened knowing what these wonderful people in the Green Mountain State have endured. Yet, I know that the people of the Green Mountain State are pulling together and helping each other out with the help of many from away.

Flooding in Vermont

2011-08-31T11:15:00.000-04:00

Residents in thirteen Vermont towns are isolated when flood waters from Irene damaged the roads leading to these towns so badly that vehicles can not get in or out.

Vermont Public Radio has been covering these events:

A list of the thirteen towns,
Aug 30 report on efforts to rebuild US Rte 4 into Mendon and Killington VT
text
VT DOT efforts to restore communications to the thirteen towns (8/30/11)

This just in, dated today, from VPR:

One isolated VT town to be reached today, Wed.

Reports on Wilmington, VT another town isolated by Irene
National Guard Moving Supplies into Wilmington
CBS News video from helo over Wilmington VT.

The Burlington Free Press (BFP). Links from the Burlington Free Press may only be freely available for seven days, I'm not sure. For an article with a photo gallery in today's BFP today's efforts to reach these isolated communities in VT go here.

Line of Duty Death: Princeton NJ EMT Michael Kenwood

2011-08-30T11:46:00.012-04:00

Michael Kenwood, EMT with the Princeton (NJ) First Aid & Rescue Squad is one of seven who died in NJ during Irene. He died late Sunday night, August 28 from injuries sustained while attempting to reach a car submerged in the water. RIP Michael. The Times of Trenton has an article about Michael's death. My condolences go out to Michael's family, friends, colleagues and all who loved him.

I had embedded the audio feed the announcement of Michael's passing by the Mercer County Communications Center for about 20 hours. For those of you who want to listen to this feed, it may be found here.

At the time of this writing (8/30/11), there are six others who have died in NJ as a result of Irene. And some 30 +/- other deaths attributed to Irene up and down the east coast. I would like to offer my condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of all those whose deaths are attributed to Irene.

Revised 8/31/11 at 10:41 EDT

Flooding in NJ from Irene: Denville

2011-08-29T15:47:00.003-04:00

More years ago than I care to admit, I commuted to NYC by bus from Morris County through the town of Denville. I'd expect that this video was shot either yesterday or today.

Conair Convair 580 Tanker (Pt 2) - pre-flight briefing

2011-08-29T10:30:00.002-04:00

Sit in on pre-flight briefing departure briefing between Conair pilots Chris Baldwin in the left seat and Jeff Broussseau in the right seat prior to a practice fire bombing run over the Abbotsford International Airport in April 2011.

I don't exactly know if all pre-flight briefings in the tanker biz are this long (8 to 9 minutes). But, I certainly learned a lot about what is making a retardant drop on a fire and I think you will too.

A first look at flooding in NJ from Irene

2011-08-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

This video focuses on Manville, a town whose residents are all too familiar with flooding.

And a link to a google map, courtesy of the Star Ledger may be found here, data is from 5:30 Pm on August 28.

Good night Irene

2011-08-28T21:19:00.000-04:00

Good night Irene, and good riddance. I never loved you.

But I grew up with Pete Seeger, heard him in concert once with Arlo Guthrie some, oh never mind. It was a long time ago. It somehow feels fitting to embed this video here.

NJ is not the only State impacted by Irene. But at the moment, I can only think about NJ. So bear with me. We will be experiencing major flooding in NJ over the next couple of days. Some 800,000 people without power here, most of them on the shore. My county in northwest New Jersey has about 31,000 people without power as I write this, not bad all things considering.

I waited to post this until the NWS lifted the tropical storm warning for my county. Which they just did. Hardly any rain to speak of after about 7 AM, but the wind started the kick in on the back side of Irene. So, I sat in my house listening to sometimes 35 mph winds gusting.

I'll be looking for some videos tomorrow to show you. I have written about prior floods in NJ, so I'll follow suit for the next couple of posts at least.

Irene: Incident Management Teams and Hurricane Hunter Aircraft

2011-08-27T12:04:00.003-04:00

Still here. Outer band of Irene starting to impact very southern NJ as I write this, We are due to see brunt of Irene starting late tonight into tomorrow (Sunday) early afternoon. Two things just came across my electronic desk that I want to share with you.

Many of you may have heard various weather media talk about the hurricane hunting aircraft that fly into (or over?) the hurricanes to make readings. These are two specially equipped P-# Orion aircraft, named Miss Piggy and Kermit. NOAA has a webpage where you can and find out more about Miss Piggy and Kermit, here.

Last but in no means least, I understand from Bill Gabbert's article on wildfiretoday that two national incident management teams have been activated to help us out in the northeast with Irene. One may go to New York, and the other may go to Boston. Grew up in the Boston burbs and experienced Hurricane Donna when I was six. I remember that one cause Donna cancelled my first day of first grade. And I lived in New York City many moons ago. Currently live in NJ. Thank-you to all the crew of these two incident management teams from the bottom of my heart. And the northeast thanks you.

Bill's article on the activation of these incident management teams may be found here.

Irene is coming

2011-08-26T15:40:00.000-04:00

By now, many of you know that Hurricane Irene is due to impact much of the east coast of the U.S. in the coming days. I myself will be impacted on Sunday afternoon. I'm not quite sure what will happen. We are prepared and safe, being inland. But power outages and internet disruptions may happen. I have prepared a post for Monday, August 29 that should post automatically.

So, if you don't hear from me reporting on my experiences with Irene on Monday (8/29) or Tuesday (8/30), you will know the reason.

Conair Convair 580/600 airtankers (part 1)

2011-08-26T15:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know the specifics, but I do know that the US Forest Service has contracted (or leased) three Convair 580/600 tankers from Conair, a Canadian company. I don't know exactly when the deal was finalized, but it was sometime after the USFS terminated its contract with Aero Union. Conair contracts with the Alaska Division of Forestry for Convair 580 tankers (I think), it may be these tankers that are currently under contract with the USFS. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on the Convairs here.

I thought I'd provide some specifications for you. I'd like to thank a friend who helped me by providing me with some specifications for the Convair 580's from the American Museum of Aviation see their page on the Convair 580 technical specifications, I am only including some of the specs here, you will want to refer to the link I provided for more information:

Length: 81 feet 6 inches
wing span: 105 feet 4 inches
max take off weight: 58,156 lbs
max landing weight: 52,000 lbs
normal cruising speed: 325 mph or 282 knots
landing speed: 125 mph or 110 knots
engines: 2 Allison 501D13D rated at 3,800 eshp ea.

I think, but am not sure that the engines on the Convair 580's, the Allison's, are the same as on the P-3's and that they are turbo props. Interesting, huh?

When I knew that I wanted to write an article or two about the Convair 580's, I had it in my head that the retardant capacity of these birds is 2,000 gallons in ideal conditions. Higher temps at high elevation airports will require a lower amount of retardant. The same friend that I referred to earlier sent me a link to a power point presentation found on the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Neighborhood Discussion Center on loading the Convair 580's with retardant, go here download the file which will require Power Point or a presentation program that reads Power Point (I use Keynote on my Mac). I should warn you that I had some trouble downloading the file but was successful the second time around. Here is some useful information that you will find on this power point presentation:

A full load is 18,000 lbs or 2,000 gallons (assuming that retardant weighs 9 lbs per gallon). The full load may vary depending on the weight of the retardant use.
The tank system used on the Convair 580's is the RADS II constant flow retardant tank system. This system is computer controlled and computer activated. As I understand it, the crew dials in the requested coverage level, and the two tank doors on the bottom of the tanker open just enough to let out the retardant at the desired coverage level.

Now, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I suspected that in its hey day, Aero Union may have had something to do with the RADS II retardant tank system. So, I went to the Aero Union Corp. homepage and found a webpage on Aerial Firefighting Systems _ Constant Flow Delivery Systems, and clicked on the link that said "RADS II for the P-3/L-188 (a pdf file on the RADS II tank system) and lo and behold, I find out that Aero Union designed a RADS II retardant tank for the Convair 580. Interesting, huh?

2011-08-24T10:59:00.000-04:00

This is about ten minutes of footage shot by Nick Mitchell at the Ken Fire on Monday, August 22 in the San Bernardino National Forest north of Los Angeles CA. As of the evening of August 23, 350 acres had burned with 80% containment. I believe that one residence was destroyed. The latest incident report from inciweb on the Ken Fire may be found here.

In the video you will see some footage of the aerial attack on the fire, including CAL FIRE's S-2T's and a couple of helitankers.