Bill Gabbert has some pictures of the Evergreen 747 supertanker's earlier drops this fire season.
There was a 12 minute video from myfoxla that is no longer available. As you will see on the video, the Evergreen 747 is known as tanker 979 (the number on the tail). The first drop in this run is about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video. Tanker 979 split this load into two drops of 10,000 gallons each that Fox captured in this video. Think about it, she dropped 20,000 gallons of retardant without having to return to her base at McClellan for reloading. For those of you who are interested, the first of these drops occurs at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video
Updated on September 8, 2014: The wonderful 12 minute video that I embedded here when I first wrote this article is no longer available. At least I couldn't find it.
Updated on August 3, 2015: According to Bill Gabbert's May 2nd (2014) article on Fire Aviation it seems that Evergreen has declared bankruptcy.
I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.
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