The old company, Bombardier Aerospace, makes these in Canada. They dont motor around to fill the tanks---they touch down at approach speed, open the fill scoops, add lots of power, and the tanks fill in seconds. Theres one scene in the film where you can see the two tank level gauges rapidly go up. The other neat thing is watching the magnitude of the flight control inputs, especially aileron, as they are manoeuvring down low---sometimes the pilot is literally going stop to stop. As any tanker pilot will tell you, there is nothing boring about this kind of real flying!
Video is of the 43rd Air Group that flies out of Torejon AFB in Madrid. They are flown by active Air Force pilots. It is a three year assignment. First year you are the engineer, second year co-pilot and third year pilot. It is considered a very prestigious assignment.
Neil, those guys sure work hard with the stick and pedals, just going to have a look a Ken's post
_wombat_ said
12:00 PM Feb 16, 2014
Delta18 wrote:
Aus-Kiwi wrote:
I wander why they have jet engines on top of the wings ??
To stop water getting in them I would say.
Hmmmm, not to sure on that one, what happens when it rains?
Big Gorilla said
01:43 PM Feb 16, 2014
I was not sure if the question was serious or a joke !! I would assume the engines are rear mounted because the design of the fuselage is to allow water to be scooped up in large quantities. Engine pods hanging under the wing would not allow for efficient uplift of large quantities of water. Also water would obviously be drawn into the engines causing a flame out, meaning in simple terms, the engines would stop.
Diggings said
09:09 AM Feb 18, 2014
Watched the water bombers filling up at Chaffey Dam last year, very impressed. As an ex RFS volunteer I can say these bombers make a huge impact.
Can operate with small water areas , can control volume of water dumped .
Big Gorilla said
07:58 PM Feb 18, 2014
A lot depends on the water carrying capacity. The Erickson Skycrane can carry 2650 gallons or 10,000 liters. The Russian BE200 carries 3170 gallons or 12,000 liters. The largest water carrier is the old McDonnell Douglas DC10 conversion. It carries 12,000 Gallons or 45,425 liters. That's a lot of water....
Delta18 said
11:42 PM Feb 18, 2014
Big Gorilla wrote:
A lot depends on the water carrying capacity. The Erickson Skycrane can carry 2650 gallons or 10,000 liters. The Russian BE200 carries 3170 gallons or 12,000 liters. The largest water carrier is the old McDonnell Douglas DC10 conversion. It carries 12,000 Gallons or 45,425 liters. That's a lot of water....
The old company, Bombardier Aerospace, makes these in Canada. They dont motor around to fill the tanks---they touch down at approach speed, open the fill scoops, add lots of power, and the tanks fill in seconds. Theres one scene in the film where you can see the two tank level gauges rapidly go up. The other neat thing is watching the magnitude of the flight control inputs, especially aileron, as they are manoeuvring down low---sometimes the pilot is literally going stop to stop. As any tanker pilot will tell you, there is nothing boring about this kind of real flying!
Video is of the 43rd Air Group that flies out of Torejon AFB in Madrid. They are flown by active Air Force pilots. It is a three year assignment. First year you are the engineer, second year co-pilot and third year pilot. It is considered a very prestigious assignment.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/48642618
Great stuff. Take a look at this Russian monster:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4EgOj0WKRA
This is the aircraft we need in Victoria and NSW...
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Saturday 15th of February 2014 05:46:52 PM
wonder what it was thinking seeing those things !
To stop water getting in them I would say.
Neil, those guys sure work hard with the stick and pedals, just going to have a look a Ken's post
Hmmmm, not to sure on that one, what happens when it rains?
I was not sure if the question was serious or a joke !!
I would assume the engines are rear mounted because the design of the fuselage is to allow water to be scooped up in large quantities. Engine pods hanging under the wing would not allow for efficient uplift of large quantities of water. Also water would obviously be drawn into the engines causing a flame out, meaning in simple terms, the engines would stop.
Go a long way to beat the Erickson Skycrane http://ericksonaviation.com/industries/firefighting/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSbj0BSts1w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUywXnoItxw
Can operate with small water areas , can control volume of water dumped .
A lot depends on the water carrying capacity. The Erickson Skycrane can carry 2650 gallons or 10,000 liters. The Russian BE200 carries 3170 gallons or 12,000 liters. The largest water carrier is the old McDonnell Douglas DC10 conversion. It carries 12,000 Gallons or 45,425 liters. That's a lot of water....
And they look a LOT more impressive filling up.