A look inside an Airtanker courtesy of a Tanker Captain

I was checking out yesterday's (August 2nd) Wildfire News of the Day from Mike Archer when I came upon an article with a video on Inside an Airtanker from KDRV Newswatch 12 out of Medford Oregon. In this video you will Captain Ron Minter of Neptune Aviation talk about the demands of being a Tanker pilot. Captain Minter and his co-pilot have had a long season, flying since February 28, 2017. They get one day off a week, at where ever their current base is.

Captain Minter and his co-pilot were flying the Modoc July Complex (just south of the Oregon-California border at the time of the KDRV report, based at Medford (OR) Airtanker Base. Medford was very busy at the time of this report. You might recall that a NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMET) Trainee was deployed to the Modoc July Complex on July 31st. As I write this, the Modoc July Complex has burned 73,735 acres and is at 35% containment. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has written about the Modoc July Complex, go to his August 2nd article with links to his earlier articles for more information. You might also be interested in KDRV's August 2nd article on the Modoc July Complex (with a couple of photos).

I could not get the embed code that KDRV supplied with the video to work, I am sorry. That happens sometimes. Here is a direct link to the two-minute video from KDRV, I encourage you to take a couple of minutes to watch the video.

Edited on November 26, 2021: I just today noticed that the KDRV report with video on "Inside an Airtanker (Neptune Aviation BAe-146) is no longer available. I have noted that often media outlets remove their reports after a certain amount of time has passed. I apologize for not mentioning this in my original post.