Air Tanker Action Agains Black Forest Fire in Colorado

[dbrown]

Here are some shots from today’s efforts to fight the Black Forest Fire that is just north of Colorado Springs.

This first photo was taken from Denver – 60 miles away from the fire. It is a monster that is eating houses and the brave pilots flying everything from vintage P2V’s, to C-130’s, to helicopters and SEAT aircraft are trying their best to kill it. There is also a DC-10 that must be operating from the Springs area as it is too big to visit the Jeffco Tanker Base.



Morning was decent – a little sun and calm winds. By afternoon the smoke wafted up the front range nearly obscuring the mountains at times.








And at noon the guys from Fast and Loud – Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufmann dropped into the airport



The C-130’s carry a lot more retardant than the P2V’s but are just as quick to get in and out. These pilots are amazingly cool and will often chat with the tanker groupies that line the fence to watch the planes take on slurry and fuel and head back into the sky. By 5:30 the sun was completely obscured by the smoke – making it hard to shoot decent shots.

[Punisher05]

Very cool! Hope they can start to get it under control quickly and safely.

Those FireHawk helos were based out of MSY for nearly a year or so while I was there. Katrina had knocked out the water supply systems for most of the city, so they were contracted to stand by for aerial drops. From what I've heard, a few burning houses got flattened by the amount of water they were able to bring to bear...put the fire out though!


-Brandon

[Steve Nelson]

Great pics, Buffie!

I used to hang out at the Jeffco Tanker Base back in the early 80s when H&P kept one of their Super Privateers there during fire season.

Just saw a report on the Weather Channel about the CO fires..looks like they're pretty mean, and not even close to being under control. Hope everyone stays safe.


SN

[DH82EH]

Thanks for posting those great shots. I hope everyone is safe out there.

I have a question regarding the intake plugs in the jets of the Neptunes. Are there engines in there? I see the yellow one taking off with the plugs still in.

If not, why don't they take off pylons and all? Thanks

Andy Scott

[shrike]

Thanks for posting those great shots. I hope everyone is safe out there.

I have a question regarding the intake plugs in the jets of the Neptunes. Are there engines in there? I see the yellow one taking off with the plugs still in.

If not, why don't they take off pylons and all? Thanks

Andy Scott

Those aren't plugs, they are doors that close up when the engine is not running.

[DH82EH]

Hey thanks Shrike.
On further review of the "take off" photo, it looks to be more of a landing photo (flaps out), so jets not running would make sense.

Do they run on different fuel than the recips? ie. separate systems?

Andy Scott

[dbrown]

Andy,

The doors are spring loaded and open when at speed. You can definately hear the jets scream on takeoff.

Derek

[Roger Cain]

Nice set of pictures, hopefully they can knock this beast down before too long.

[dbrown]

Gotta love a smoke-belching radial!

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/buffies ... d.mp4.html

[sandiego89]

Hey thanks Shrike.
Do they run on different fuel than the recips? ie. separate systems?

Andy Scott

Same fuel is used for both the the jets and the mains. This is how they were delivered for their Navy service to cut down on complexity/plumbing. I too was surprised to hear that these early jet pods could be run on avgas. This concept was also used on the the B-36, B-29, B-50, KC-97. There were some early concerns about burner can life being cut short as Avgas does burn hotter than JET-A and the lubricating properties are not quite as good as JET-A/kerosene, but with some minimal mods to the injector nozzles these podded jets are happy to burn Avgas.

Not so happy are recips burning Jet fuel

[JOHN MILLER]

anyone happen to know why feds wont allow Evergreens 747 tanker to be used at any fore? That thing can drop some serious water. Just askin.

[bdk]

See Mike's link in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49994

[JohnB]

Good to see the Neptunes in action.
Also, don't forget the Bell 205s...without looking them up on the FAA database, I'd guess some are ex-Army Hueys.

[dbrown]

And a Boeing 107 was helping out. They were from Oregon.

Sleek looking spotter A/C

[Brenden S]

Top photos and video, thanks so much for sharing.