Now I've seen everything

Snowstorm shovel-cam

Up close with the AT-802 with the help of Queen Bee: Hatfield Constant Flow Gate System

Queen Bee has two AT-802's with the Hatfield Constant Flow Gate System. This is a more recent entry into the arena of SEAT gate systems. Like both generations of the FRDS, this Hatfield Gate is a constant flow retardant delivery system. According to the 2009 edition of the Interagency SEAT Operations Guide (p.39) the Hatfield Gate achieved interim approval of the Interagency Airtanker Board in 2009. I don't know more specific information about the operation of this Hatfield gate, when I do, I will post something here. In the meantime, Go here for some generalized information on how constant flow retardant delivery systems work.

Note: The Bureau of Land Management maintains a nice webpage on Single Engine Airtankers where I found the link for the 2009 edition of the Interagency SEAT Operations Guide (ISOG). They also have links to wealth of other information on SEAT operations. I mention this because I am thinking that the ISOG may be revised this year for 2010 in which case the link for the 2009 edition of the ISOG will expire. The BLM SEAT Operations webpage may be found here.

Thanks to my friends at Queen Bee for the photos!

Up close with the AT-802 with the help of Queen Bee: FRDS-I Gate System

Here is some information that I obtained from the Air Tractor website about the first generation Air Tractor Fire Retardant Delivery System (FRDS), a constant flow retardant delivery system, used by Queen Bee. Air Tractor is now into the second generation of the FRDS.

Introduction:
The Air Tractor Fire Retardant Delivery System, or FRDS, is an electrically controlled, hydraulically actuated constant flow airtanker door system. System operational parameters allow multiple constant flow drop capability at coverage levels between 0.5 and 4.0 gcf, with a maximum flow, or "full coverage" rate approaching coverage level 6.
Operation:
The system is operated by an onboard PLC (Programmable Logic Computer) which receives input from a pilot interface panel in the cockpit, the drop trigger, and various internal sensors. During a typical mission, the pilot will select the amount to drop (in 50 gallon increments) the desired coverage level (in 0.5 gcf increments) and ground speed. He then will arm the system and close the drop trigger when needed. The PLC will control the drop using sensors for door angle, flow rate, and acceleration to meter the retardant flow, closing automatically when the preset amount has been dropped. The system incorporates a "learning" algorithm to compensate for errors caused by wear, material viscosity, etc., making the coverage level self calibrating. In addition to the full automatic drop mode described above, a manual automatic mode is also available through the PLC. In this mode the PLC retains control of the flow rate to ensure accurate coverage level while the length of line, or drop quantity, is controlled by the pilot by simply holding the drop trigger closed for the desired distance. This mode is useful in operational situations such as when the pilot is instructed to "Put a line from the road to the rocks." The requested line can be dropped with minimum waste, saving the remaining
retardant for other targets.
Redundancy:
A redundant PLC is installed which provides for backup electronic control in a simplified manual mode. This system provides for continued operation in the event of a failure of the primary PLC unit. A mechanically operated pneumatic emergency jettison system is also installed which utilizes compressed air from a reservoir to force the doors open in the event of an in-flight emergency.
Components:
The FRDS consists of dual, centerline mounted, longitudinally hinged, overcentering type doors driven by a rotary type hydraulic actuator powered by a 3000psi electric hydraulic system with an accumulator. The system is controlled by a PLC via electric hydraulic controls and sensors for hydraulic pressure, door angle, door lock, acceleration, and tank quantity. Operation is controlled with a pilot interface panel in the cockpit. An 18 gallon class A foam tank, electric gauge, and automatic foam injector pump and controller are also mounted.

Obtained from the Air Tractor website on February 6, 2009. Note: The link that I used in last February no longer active, probably because Air Tractor is now into the second generation FRDS. Thanks to my friends at Queen Bee for the photos!

 

  

 

 

Up close with the AT-802 with the help of Queen Bee: Loading retardant

As I understand it the valves used for loading retardant in the AT-802F -- 3 inch male kamlock couplers -- are standard in airtankers. The federal SEAT contracts require dual valves, so that retardant can be loaded from either side of the aircraft. When used in the "agricultural configuration, there is only one valve, on the left side of the aircraft.

Thanks to my friends at Queen Bee for the photos!

Up close with the AT-802 with the help of Queen Bee: AT-802F cockpit

Here are some shots of the cockpit of the AT-802F courtesy of the wonderful folk at Queen Bee! Note that this a single-seat cockpit. A word on the AmSafe Airbag Harness, as I understand it this harness will deploy an airbag, for more information go here.

There are a couple of different models of the AT-802. The AT-802's equipped for agricultural "crop-dusting" spraying equipment are: the AT-802 (single-seat cockpit). The aerial fire fighting AT-802 is known as the AT-802F. Air Tractor makes a double-seat cockpit version of both models, designated by the letter "A". See this webpage for information on the AT-802 models.

Here are links on specifications and performance for the AT-802F. For those of you who want a more detailed discussion, I refer you to a couple of posts I made one year ago on the AT-802F (updated as appropriate) here and here.

Click on the image above for an enlarged and more readable version of the AT-802F dimensional drawings (courtesy of Air Tractor).

Up close with the AT-802 with the help of Queen Bee: About Queen Bee

Queen Bee Air Specialties has been in business for 45 years, and owned by the Kemper family for 33 years. Queen Bee has air tanker (SEAT) contracts with both national and state agencies. In addition, they have been an authorized Air Tractor Dealer since 1984, sell Air Tractor parts,  and perform maintenance services on Air Tractors. Information on Queen Bee's pilot flight training program may be found here.

Queen Bee's air tanker fleet consists of nine AT-802's, all of which are type III air tankers. Tankers are classified into four types based on retardant capacity (in gallons). A type III tanker has a capacity of 800 to 1,799 gallons of retardant (or suppressant). See page 52 of the Interagency Aerial Supervision Guide for more information on tanker classification. More information on Queen Bee's AT-802's see their web page on air tanker operations.

I've had the privilege of chatting with a couple of the staff at Queen Bee about their operations and the AT-802. They have been generous with their time and in providing me with some photographs, including the ones that I included here.

Thanks to my friends at Queen Bee for the photos!

Stay tuned for my next post where I will revisit specifications of the AT-802.

Up close with AT-802 with the help of Queen Bee: introduction

When I first began writing about aerial wildland fire fighting almost one year ago, I was interested in the aviation resources used by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service -- single engine airtankers (SEATs) and UH-1H Huey helicopters. So, after writing about Huey helicopters, I wrote about the different types of SEATS used in aerial wildland firefighting: AgCat aka FireCat, Dromader M-18, Ayers Thrush, and the Air Tractor AT-802, and the Air Tractor models 402, 502, and 602. Air Tractor is also in the process of developing a larger fire fighting SEAT, the AT-1002.

What I did not fully appreciate at the time I wrote those articles is that the smaller Air Tractor models, in particular the AT-502 and 602 play a role in agricultural applications as well as fire fighting. In addition, at the time I wrote those early articles, I may not have mentioned that SEATs fall into one of two tanker classifications dependent on the size of their retardant tanks. SEATs with tanks holding 799 gallons of retardant or less are called type IV tankers. SEATs with tanks holding 800 gallons fall into the type III classification.

As time went on my appreciation for the role of SEATs in aerial wildland firefighting grew. While I don't know specific details of states other than NJ, I do know that other states have SEATs on state contracts during fire fighting season. I hope to write more about the role of SEATs in fighting fires in my own state later this year.

It didn't take much time for me to learn that SEATs play a very important role in initial attack as well as being able to maneuver in spaces where larger tankers can not. Another advantage is shorter runway requirements and the ability to work from mobile "temporary" bases set up near a fire with mobile retardant mixing and loading trailers.

For sometime know, I have been wanting to go back and write more about SEATs. I am going to write about the type III SEATs. I hope to spend some time with the type IV SEATs later this year. With the single engine AT-1002 still under development, I believe that only type III SEAT is the AT-802 with an 800 gallon retardant tank. So, I begin with that AT-802.

When I wrote about the AT-802 last February I was looking for some more information about how these airplanes were used in firefighting. One of my air tanker pilot friends referred me to the Queen Bee Air Specialties website because Queen Bee is an Air Tractor dealer and they are active in aerial wildland firefighting. Queen Bee is one of several SEAT aviation companies holding national SEAT contracts.

Since I was already familiar with Queen Bee through their website, when I decided that I wanted to write more about the AT-802 contacting Queen Bee seemed like a good place to start. I was aided in this by a friend who put me in touch with the folk at Queen Bee.

I want to say here that I have the highest respect for all operators of aerial wildland firefighting aircraft, including but not limited to SEAT operators. As time goes on, I hope to have the opportunity to correspond with other SEAT operators in the future.

My focus in this series of articles, still being developed, is twofold. First, I hope to get up close and personal with the AT-802 with the help of the folk at Queen Bee. In the course of doing so, I will be writing about Queen Bee.

Air Tractor 1002 Test plane

I came across this video of the new AT-1002 a few weeks ago, and am posting it here. I believe that is a test plane. The only detail I know is that it has a 1,000 gallon retardant tank. According to the information from youtube, the pilot is chief test pilot Troy Vaught.

Flying Fires -- Fog, Smoke, and VFR or IFR: Reflections

With this post, I wrap my series on Flying Fires -- Fog, Smoke, and VFR or IFR. The first seven articles in this series were posted from January 4 to 13, 2010. I offer this short piece of fiction as my reflections.

I am a home owner out in the west (U.S.) and there is a wildland fire burning near by. There is no fog near my house. Maybe I am wondering if I am going to have to evacuate. I can see some smoke and the flames but no, there isn't any fog. And whatever winds there are, they aren't much. Maybe 5 mph. I'm preoccupied and somewhat anxious, so I'm not thinking that the usual tanker base tankers fly out of is fogged in. I'm wondering where they are. No winds to ground the tankers. It's getting on to mid-morning and they are usually here by now. Where are they?

I am getting restless. Maybe I'll turn on my radio and listen to a weather report and I'll hear something about fog in some areas of the region. I hope that I will take a breath, sit down, and know that the tankers will get here, it is probably taking them longer to get here because their base might be fogged in.

Ok, I'll wait. I know that the ground crews are out doing what they can, trying to build and hold the line. I can just make out the lights from the engines on the ridge on the other side of the valley below my house. Off in the distance I think I see a helo. There looks to be something hanging from its belly, I think it is a snorkel. Probably getting water from the pond in the park. So, if a helo is out there is hope.

I wait some more. They are here. I see one on the ridge. And another. They are late, but they are here.

I remember the fire several years ago. Woke up one morning to see the smoke hanging in the air down in the valley. I didn't see any tankers or helos over the valley that day. I figured that if I couldn't see into the that they couldn't see either. The guy on the radio said they were inversions. Back then I wasn't all that familiar with the term inversions. Now I am

No inversions today. I can see the valley and the flames. Oh, there is another tanker making a drop. I bet the ground crews are happy to see you! Thank-you tanker pilots and crew!

Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport (MTPP): update on 1/16/2010 @ 11:15 AM EST

I found two FAA advisories dated Jan. 16, 2010 (005, 007) updating the situation at MTPP. The ground stop at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport (MTPP) was canceled late yesterday (EST). I am copying relevant portions of the text of FAA advisories 005 and 007 date 1/16/2010 and one of the notams (notices to airmen) referred to in advisory 007.

A word on the notam, from what I understand from my pilot friends, the FAA often issues multiple notams with the same wording to ensure that the notice gets out to all affected parties. In this case there are three notams all saying that the "U.S. Government has established temporary air traffic flow management procedures for flights into MTPP."

ATCSCC ADVZY 005 DCC 01/15/2010 HAITI UPDATE
MESSAGE: THE GROUND STOP FOR TRAFFIC DESTINED MTPP HAS BEEN CANCELED. THIS ADVISORY SUPERSEDES ALL PREVIOUS ISSUED FAA COMMAND CENTER ADVISORIES CONCERNING OPERATIONS AT PORT AU PRINCE - MTPP AIRPORT. ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATING INTO MTPP MUST COMPLY WITH NOTAMS 0/1856 AND 0/1857. THE FAA COMMAND CENTER CRISIS MANAGEMENT CENTER RECOVERY DESK WILL REMAIN STAFFED AND BE AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION DISSEMINATION AND ASSISTANCE.
EFFECTIVE TIME: 160030 - 160559
SIGNATURE: 10/01/16 00:31

ATCSCC ADVZY 007 DCC 01/15/2010 HAITI UPDATE NOTAM CLARIFICATION
MESSAGE: ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATING INTO MTPP MUST COMPLY WITH NOTAMS ZZZ 0/1856, FDC 0/1857 OR KFDC A0001/10.
EFFECTIVE TIME: 160050 - 160559
SIGNATURE: 10/01/16 00:51

NOTAM Request for: KFDC A0001/10
KFDC A0001/10 KFDC - .. SPECIAL TEMPORARY ACCESS PROCEDURES FOR MTPP .. AT THE REQUEST OF ICAO AND HAITI'S NEIGHBORING STATES IN SUPPORT OF EARTHQUAKE RELIEF OPERATIONS, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS ESTABLISHED TEMPORARY AIR TRAFFIC FLOW MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES FOR FLIGHTS INTO MTPP. ALL FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT FLYING TO MTPP ARE REQUIRED TO BE ON AN ACTIVE IFR FLIGHTPLAN AND PRIOR TO DEPARTURE OBTAIN ARRIVAL SLOT TIMES FROM THE HAITI FLIGHT OPERATIONS COORDINATION CENTER. ARRIVAL SLOT TIMES ARE VALID +/- 20 MINUTES OF THE SCHEDULED ARRIVAL TIME. IF UNABLE TO MEET SCHEDULED ARRIVAL SLOT TIMES, CONTACT THE HAITI FLIGHT OPERATIONS COORDINATION CENTER OR YOUR CONTROLLING AGENCY TO COORDINATE NEW SLOT TIMES. DEPARTURES FROM MTPP MUST COMPLY WITH NORMAL ATC PROCEDURES. ALL OPERATORS ARE ADVISED THAT FUEL AND OTHER GROUND SUPPORT SERVICES MAY BE UNAVAILABLE. 16 JAN 00:01 2010 UNTIL UFN. CREATED: 15 JAN 23:54 2010

Toussaint L'Ouverture (MTPP): update 12:10 PM EST

Delays by Destination:

* Due to NO RAMP SPACE, departure traffic destined to MTPP airport will not be allowed to depart until at or after 19:00 UTC.

It seems that the problems of no ramp space at MTPP continues. Not surprising. Instead of posting these every two hours, I'll monitor on my own, and touch base on this tomorrow. In the meantime, those of you who are interested in following the status of MTPP can go to the map on this FAA webpage and click on any of the airports to see the FAA notices of delays be destination.

Toussaint L'Ouverture (MTPP): update 10:30 AM EST

Delays by Destination:

* Due to NO RAMP SPACE, departure traffic destined to MTPP airport will not be allowed to depart until at or after 17:00 UTC.

Ground stop continues at Toussaint L'Ouverture

I just checked the the FAA webpage that I wrote about last night and found that there is a ground stop on flights to Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport (MTPP) until 15:00 UTC (3 PM) or 10 AM EST.

Delays by Destination:

* Due to NO RAMP SPACE, departure traffic destined to MTPP airport will not be allowed to depart until at or after 15:00 UTC.

Toussaint L'ouverture International Airport: 1/14/10 @ 11 PM

I went to the Aviation Week website and found two updates on conditions at Toussaint L'ouverture International Airport (MTPP) in Port Au Prince.

1. In this article, James Ott of Aviation Week reports that crews from the U.S. are assisting Haitians in staffing a remote temporary Control Tower serving MTPP. Ott reports that only 12 ramp positions were available at the airport. He reports on other difficulties faced by humanitarian flights into MTPP today.

2. Paul McLearly writes about the important role played by the U.S. Air Force's 23^rd Tactics Special Tactics Squadron, 720^th Special Tactics group a late afternoon post to the Defense Technology Blog at Aviation Week. He writes:

The 720th, based out of Hurlburt Field, Fla. is a force designed to be rapidly deployed to provide the tactical ground-to-air communications required to link up air assets with special operations missions on the ground, and in Haiti, they’re running the show until more help arrives.

Speaking with reporters on a conference cal this afternoon, Lt. Col. Brett J. Nelson, Commander of the 23^rd / 720^th; said that when his team arrived, “the airfield from a structural perspective was in good condition, but… there were uncontrolled operations going on there for at least twenty-four hours prior to our arrival, so it was in quite a state of disarray on the ramp in particular. The first priority was to get that efficiently organized in some way and we continue to work that effort.”

According to Lt. Col. Nelson, there were as many as 44 aircraft on the ground at the airport this afternoon being unloaded and taking on evacuees. See the article for more information on the work of 720^th.

damaged port slows aid efforts in Haiti

FAA has ground stop on flights to Toussaint L'ouverture Inter. Airport

Much thanks to one of my pilot friends who helped me find some info from the FAA website confirming a CNN report that I saw earlier that flights to Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport (MTPP) have been suspended. I looked around, but could not find confirming information from the FAA until my friend pointed me in the right direction.

Here is what my friend pointed me to. If you go to this FAA webpage, you will see a map of the country showing some of the major airports. The purpose being so you can easily find flight delay information. So, I clicked on the dot for Miami International Airport,and saw this information:

Delays by Destination:
* Due to AIRBORNE INVENTORY, departure traffic destined to MTPP airport will not be allowed to depart until at or after 01:00 UTC.

I clicked on the dots for several other airports, Newark, Washington International, Teterboro, Logan in Boston and saw the same information. You can also find this same information on Flight Aware's webpage for MTTP (Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport), this page may be found here.

As I write this, it is a almost 7:30 PM EST, which means it is 12:30 AM in London. If I am thinking about this correctly, UT is universal time where UT is the time at the Greenwich meridian which runs through Greenwich England. I've been to Greenwich and its observatory, it is across the Thames River from London. If you are interested, go here for information on the current time in time zones around the world.

Update on aviation situation in Haiti (1/14/10, 3:40 PM)

Christopher Fotos of Aviation Week's Things with Wings Commercial Aviation Blog, posted an an article with links to reports from the Wall Street Journal on the opening of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport and other relief efforts, and the relief efforts of American Airlines. In addition to the information provided by Things with Wings, I just found a NY Times articles with more aviation related information.

According to this Wall Street Journal article, troops from the U.S. Southern Operations Command led efforts to repair the quake damaged Air Traffic Control Tower at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport (MTPP). The good news is that MTPP is now open for 24/7 operations. The article also reports on the deployment of other relief teams from the U.S. and elsewhere.

For an update on the relief efforts on American Airlines go here (another Wall Street Journal article). As I reported earlier today, American Airlines efforts are restricted to the very important role of flying in supplies and equipment, notably water, food, and other supplies. They are unable to fly in passengers at the moment.

Unfortunately, while MTPP is open, there are other problems at the airport as reported by this NY Times article. To summarize, airplanes are backed up at MTPP, both on the ground and in the air. The airport is crowded with civilian and military aircraft on the ground, some waiting to be unloaded. Additional airplanes, including cargo transports are stacked in the air waiting to land on the one runway. There are also reports of shortages of aviation fuel, the result being that some aircraft are unable to leave because of these aviation fuel shortages. The article also discusses problems arising from the damage to the seaport, and difficulty in travel by road in and around Port Au Prince including travel by ground out of the airport.

copyright 2010 K. Tyler Miller

Haiti Earthquake: focusing on aviation

I am sure that most of you have been following the tragic earthquake that has wrought untold devastation and loss of life on Haiti. Because I write about aviation, I was curious about the status of the airport near Port Au Prince, so I did some checking this morning. And while I was at it, I came across some reports about the response of the General Aviation community and the Commercial Airlines in the U.S. I end with a list of internet sites, aviation and others, that I have looked at this morning.

This airport, the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, has one asphalt runway (10/28) that is approximately 9,974 feet long. More information about the Toussaint Louverture International Airport (MTPP) may be found here.

From what I understand from various media reports, the Air Traffic Control Tower at MTPP either collapsed or has seen significant damage. The United States is assisting in efforts to provide air traffic control to relief flights bound for MTPP. Some time during the day yesterday, the Haitian Aviation Authority issued what is known as a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), restricting flights to relief flights (emergency aid, equipment, supplies, and emergency personnel). See for example this report from Aviation Week.

Power is out in many areas in Haiti. I wonder about the status of the runway lighting and the electric supply elsewhere at MTPP. I also wonder about the navigational aides in and around MTPP. and I expect that this means that runway lighting at MTPP is affected. Then there are the navigational aides in or near the MTPP airport, between power outages and other disruption to radio communications; I suspect that these navigational aides are, at the very least, unreliable. Of course, these are my own speculations, as I have not seen specific reports addressing either the runway lights at MTPP or the status of their navigational aides.

Reuters is reporting here about the response of American Commercial Airlines. General Aviation is helping out also, as reported by the AOPA here.

There is a second international airport in Haiti, Cap-Haitien International Airport (MTCH). For more specific information about this airport, including runway length (4,886 ft), go here. I am uncertain about the status of this airport, so I don't know if there was any earthquake related damage. It is located in the northeastern portion of the country.

For those of you who are interested, here are some sites that I checked out this morning in regards to the earthquake. The first two are aviation specific. I have also included some links to maps, and finally links to a couple of wildfire related blogs that I follow, both of whom have written about the earthquake.

1. Aviation Week, with news report, links to blogs, and the like. I do not subscribe to the Aviation Week periodical, so I suspect that there is information that I don't have access to. However, there is much that I have been able to access on this site in the past. At least one of their writers is writing about the earthquake.

2. Aviation News Today provides a variety of links to external media sources on the latest news affecting the aviation community. I got the Reuters report mentioned earlier from this site.

3. The U.S. Geologic Service has a page of various maps devoted to the Haiti quake on this webpage..

4. A google map (where you can zoom in) may be found here.

5. Ramblings of a Chief Officer is writing about the earthquake, see for example this article where he writes about U.S. emergency responders.

6. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today is also writing about the earthquake, for example see this article.

I'll get back to my final post in my series on Flying Fires -- Fog, smoke and VFR or IFR in a few days. I'll try to keep abreast of aviation concerns related to the earthquake in Haiti and report back here.

Update: Jan 14 11:30 AM. Just found this CNN article providing updated information about the role of U.S. Airlines in earthquake relief in Haiti. Apparently, the role of the relief efforts of U.S. Airlines, for example Jet Blue and American Airlines, is limited to flying in supplies and other equipment to aid in relief. They are not able to fly in passengers, including relief workers (physicians and nurses), at this time. The CNN article cited above is also reporting the following:

U.S. Embassy staff at the Port-au-Prince airport said the tower and the lights were working, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday.

Flying Fires -- Fog, Smoke, and VFR or IFR: Fires and IFR

Departures

It is rare these days for a tanker to depart in IFR conditions with a load of retardant. We used to do it all the time and it is quite dangerous. After a few years, I refused to depart IFR with a load. The problem comes with the eventual emergency (engine failure,hydraulic failure, fire on board etc.) You have to pitch the load (or crash) and you can't see what you are dropping on. It could be a highway, a house or kids in a play ground. Then there is the very real problem of not being able to get back into the airport you just took off from because it is fogged in. Now you have to fly to your
alternate, IFR with an emergency on board. It's a terrible combination (G, former air tanker pilot).

So what are the options here? You are called to fly a fire, but your base is fogged in. Yes, you are an IFR rated pilot, as is your tanker. One option is to fly empty, under IFR if necessary, to another base with better weather and VFR conditions to load retardant and then fly to the fire under VFR.

Ok, going back to IFR for a moment, the book calls for what is know as a minimum altitude of 2,000 ft above the terrain. You can get down to 1,000 ft above the terrain and lower during an IFR-ILS approach. Consider the air tanker base in Missoula, Montana. Missoula is surrounded by mountains. One of the departure routes out of Missoula, Konna two departure, requires a 350 ft per nautical mile climb. G, who used to fly a P-2, tells me that translates to 1,050 ft per minute climb rate in a P-2 to meet the departure requirements. He goes on to explain what this means:

That's nothing for a modern jet airliner, but a tired old recip with an engine out would be hard pressed to make that kind of climb rate (1,050 per minute). The Missoula One Departure (another departure route out of Missoula) requires 400 ft per nautical mile or 1,200 ft per minute to safely get out of that valley without running into a mountain. Doing even an empty departure in IFR minimums out of a place like Missoula is asking for a whole heap of trouble if you lose an engine. You may not be able to meet the minimum climb gradient with an engine out. In 2000, flying out of Missoula in less than a mile visibility in smoke forced me to change my personal limits. I did it for a couple of weeks and then I decided this is nuts, so I refused. It's the whole idea of 'is this fire really worth injury or death to a civilian on the ground or losing a flight crew and tanker?'

Lives are not expendable.

IFR at fires?

Flying around the fire in smokey IFR is just a guess. There is no Air Traffic Control (ATC) that will even pretend to talk to you if you are that close to the ground. (G)

Remember the 2,000 foot minimum terrain separation that I was talking about earlier? I've covered retardant drops by tanker in other articles, and the tankers are flying at low altitudes when making the drop. Much lower than 2,000 feet above ground level. An inversion can trap smoke from a wildland fire under its lid. Of course smoke can be a problem over a fire without an inversion. A tanker flying in smokey IFR to drop retardant on a fire? Can you even drop the retardant where it needs to go without injuring someone on the ground? Can you drop the retardant without running yourself into the ground or clipping a tree with your wings? So sometimes smokey conditions at a fire can shut down an airshow.

Lives are not expendable.

Fog, remember fog? Fog over a fire might shut down an airshow but fog over a fire is good news for the firefighter on the ground because the moisture in the air aids in suppression efforts

_____________________________


Note (added July 2012): I'd like to thank a couple of my tanker pilot friends whom I corresponded with as I was preparing the articles in this series for their time and help. Here is a complete list of articles in this series with hyperlinks:

1. Introduction (Jan 4)
2. VFR, I can see (Jan 6)
3. IFR, I can't see but I have instruments (Jan 8)
4. Fog (Jan 11)
5. Inversions (Jan 12)
6. Flying fires: VFR or IFR? (Jan 13)
7. Reflections (Jan 18)