9 a.m. this morning by Bridge Bay on the Pitt River. Although now the question is, whether the visibility is going to let it do its job. No CalFire air support flying so far this a.m. out of RDD ...visibility is still horrible up here (as you can see from the pic)

Here's their support trucks (photo taken Friday ~ you can see the deterioration of visibility):

Was Lucky enough to watch it work out of Nelson BC last year!! They were working a fire out of Kaslo by Ratalic.
10,000 hp, 2500 and engine. I think the pilot told me either 600 or 800 gasllons an hour. Real glad everyone pitches in to buy fuel.
Needs about 5 miles to make run and scoop water.
Great pics.
GT

Spent yesterday on the Lake in our boat watching Mars "do her thing"; too amazing an opportunity to pass up. We were lucky with location and timing. Following is a link to a Picasa album that I sincerely hope works ~ click on slideshow (Zane ... when I have more time I will conquer the intricacies of your Photo Gallery and get my act together)

Martin Mars

I'll offer this too, from the Coulson site, that explains what goes on during a water "scoop". Mars made 4 of them in about an hour and a half yesterday; flew the same consistent pattern through the hills, then down onto the Lake on the Sacramento arm for water ... quite something to be able to watch up close like that. She consumes 780 gal during air ops; 420 cruise:

The most frequently asked question regarding the Mars is "How do they pick up their water?". This part of the flying operation is, perhaps, the most demanding in terms of teamwork among the crew. The Captain executes a normal landing, keeps the the aircraft "on the step" and allows the speed to decrease to 70 knots. He then passes engine power to the Flight Engineer and selects the scoops to the "down" position. The ram pressure for injecting the water into the tanks is such that the aircraft is taking on water at a rate in excess of a ton per second. To account for this added weight, the Flight Engineer must advance the throttles to maintain a skimming speed of 60-70 knots to ensure the aircraft remains on the step. Pickup time is, on average, 25 seconds. When the tanks are full, the Captain will have the scoops raised, call for takeoff power from the Flight Engineer and carry out a normal loaded takeoff. Once airborne, the foam concentrate is injected into the water load (normally, 30 US gallons of concentrate into the 7,200 US gallon water load) where it is dispersed and remains inert until the load is dropped. Once dropped, the tumbling action causes expansion which converts the water load into a foam load. This process is repeated for each drop. In other words, this vital team work is carried out, on average, every 15 minutes per aircraft. For a Gel drop , the concentrate is injected during the scooping process to allow even mixing.

Flywriter,

Thanks for sharing the photos and info.

In the package I sent you from Don Johnson is a few Martin Mars stories from WWII when he was crew on the flights from Alameda to Honolulu. Pretty good stuff.

On another note, anyone notice the idiot on the jetski cutting in front of the MM after it is off the lake. I don't know what these idiots think but I've had them do the same thing to me while flying floats on Melones. One guy in a boat came along side as I turned away from him, on the step, then cut underneath me as I cleared the water. No respect for my rotating meat cleaver at all...

N6EA wrote:Flywriter,

Thanks for sharing the photos and info.

In the package I sent you from Don Johnson is a few Martin Mars stories from WWII when he was crew on the flights from Alameda to Honolulu. Pretty good stuff.

On another note, anyone notice the idiot on the jetski cutting in front of the MM after it is off the lake. I don't know what these idiots think but I've had them do the same thing to me while flying floats on Melones. One guy in a boat came along side as I turned away from him, on the step, then cut underneath me as I cleared the water. No respect for my rotating meat cleaver at all...

Thanks for the reminder! I will go back and re-read that; don't give up on my following up on Don and his stories eventually either. I have them on my to do pile and haven't forgotten I promise ~ my plate is just VERY full at the moment (not a complaint; just reality).

As for the "idiot on the jetski"? Understatement. Husband and I were flabbergasted at the stupidity factor of the boaters; seriously ... I could not believe what little respect they had indeed for "the rotating meat cleaver" as you so aptly put it. Knowing the load they were carrying, and indeed the rate of climb factor ~ I just sat there and shook my head; can only imagine.......what the pilot and crew were thinking

Was there any kind of warnings posted, or that part of the lake closed to boaters? I'm sure there was a TFR in place for aircraft, hopefully this sort of operation has been done enough to where they have some sort of "no-float zone" protocols established. If not, they're just asking for trouble from some jet-ski or ski-boat hotdoggers.

Eric

Looks like the "Governator" has called out more of the heavy iron. This flock of four CH-47's landed at O22 Columbia today...

CH-46's, Navy version of the 47. I would guess half of the lift capacity of a D model 47. The D model 47 with it's three hooks will really pick up quite a load.

a64pilot wrote:CH-46's, Navy version of the 47. I would guess half of the lift capacity of a D model 47. The D model 47 with it's three hooks will really pick up quite a load.

a64pilot,

Thanks for the correction. They just departed and headed out over our office southbound. I guess their headed for the Oliver fire near Mariposa. Pretty cool to see 'em in formation...

Mark

hotrod150 wrote:Was there any kind of warnings posted, or that part of the lake closed to boaters? I'm sure there was a TFR in place for aircraft, hopefully this sort of operation has been done enough to where they have some sort of "no-float zone" protocols established. If not, they're just asking for trouble from some jet-ski or ski-boat hotdoggers.

Eric

Just read that the spotter plane is equipped with an air horn to warn boaters. OK. We - unlike some - stayed out of the way so didn't hear that; plus ... really didn't look to me like the Cessna came down anywhere near close enough to effectively do that anyway.

And actually no - there were NO "no float zones" anywhere on the Sacramento arm where they were doing the water loading. They would have had to close the whole arm of the river really, to have done that effectively given the amount of room this plane needs to do it's scoop and then gain altitude. No ~ they were just relying on people's good sense. Lucked out yesterday; cuz boy howdy ... sometimes being on that Lake, one wonders about the intelligence factor of the human race

Great pics! Thanks. I like the turbine '6, too.

CAVU