The life of a heavy tanker, her crew and support personnel

If you want to read about all that is involved in flying a heavy firefighting air tanker, then there is a nice article that you will want to read. You will learn a little about Minden's T-55, captain and pic Greg Hock. T-55 was based at a temporary tanker base in Abilene TX when the article was written. You will learn a little about life on a tanker base as well as what is like when the tanker is making a drop on a fire.

There are periods of inactivity between fires when the pic and co-pilot have to stay on call. When the call comes, the pic and co-pilot arrive within 15 minutes. The tanker (T-55 in this case) is loaded with retardant and off she goes.

The article also introduces you to some of the many other support personnel that are necessary for aerial wildland fire support operations. A variety of personnel are necessary including aircraft maintenance personnel (including A&P mechanics), those involved in mixing and loading the retardant into the tanker, base and ramp personnel and others.

Michael Archer of The Firebomber Publications Blog aka Wildfire News of the Day, included the article in his March 4, 2012 entry. The article itself was written for the March 4 edition of the Abilene TX Reporter News. I'd also like to another friend who made me aware of the article around the time that I found it on the Fire Publications Blog.

As always, I'm never quite certain how long links from the online edition of print media are freely available. So, if you come here and the link no longer works, that is why. October 6, 2016, I just realized that the link to the March 4, 2012 is no longer available and perhaps it hasn't been for a long time. Unfortunately, I did not save a copy of the article so I can not provide more of a summary for you. As some of you no doubt know, on June 3, 2012 T-55 landed in Minden NV with only two of three gear (see my my June 4 2012 article) . Both pilots survived. To the best of my knowledge, T-55 has not returned to service.