I had the privilege of spending a few minutes watching an air tanker on live news helo feed as she worked the Station Fire about three weeks ago. Much of it was prior to making the drop.
Elegance in action, an air tanker and her crew.
There was a fluidity of motion as I could almost see the special relationship between air tanker and crew. They were as one as they maneuvered into the right position at just the right height and speed for the drop. They nailed the retardant drop.
I know of the danger that is a very real part of what these pilots and crew do. As I watched the footage the aura of danger, while still there, faded into the background. In it's place was elegance as tanker and crew did something special, dropping retardant on a fire. Thanks to some incredible camera work from the news helo and the wonders of the internet, I had a live, up close, and birds eye view of elegance in action.
CAL FIRE (CDF) S2T Tanker 71 working Sawtooth Complex Fire (2006)
Sawtooth Complex Fire (Sept. 2006), San Bernardino County CA. Photo Credit: U.S. Forest Service
5 comments:
a Drop is a quest for a perfect alchemy; air, earth, fire, water(red..) and the 5th element Tanker/crew.
outside the cockpit it's chaos, inside it's quiet; few technical terms break the silence once in a while...power levers, flaps lever move gently. the pattern is planned, the target is in sight. No rush just being deliberate.
Elegant? yes i agree.
Jerome Laval
Airtanker Pilot
Jerome,
Thank-you so much for sharing this with us. Your words are beautiful. I have learned a lot from you over the last few months.
Stay safe!
Tyler
I have to fess up and share that this post came to me a couple of days ago as I was talking to the carpenter/painter who was doing some work for me around my house. Turns out he was in the US Airforce many years ago, working on repairing electronics (and something else) in F-16's. I told him about this blog, and was discussing the video that led to this post. I said that I was going to use the phrase "poetry in motion" to describe the tanker/crew. He said that phrase is overused, try something else. And I did, the result was the post
Tyler
Jerome said it the best....who can add to that!?
TS
TS,
Thanks.
Tyler
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