This article delves into the high-stakes world of aerial firefighting, focusing on the role of C-130 aircraft like the one piloted by Mitch Hoke for the Wyoming Air National Guard. It details the preparation, challenges, and teamwork involved in dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant to combat raging wildfires.
fires stretch into their second week, a small army of firefighters has descended on the area, along with eight C-130 aircraft
Iron oxide in the suppressant gives it its distinct red color. Other key ingredients are water and ammonium phosphate. The retardant ”decreases fire intensity, and slows the advance of the fire,”Air drops of Phos-Chek are meant to buy time for firefighters on the ground, so crews with firefighting axes known as Pulaskis or bulldozers can get in and physically cut back vegetation to contain the fire.
Navigators play a critical safety role listening to all the radio traffic from other planes in the area and thinking about terrain and exit strategies after the drop. Loadmasters, meanwhile, are responsible for the cargo in the back ― in this case, the fire suppressant. Hoke and company maneuver their 140,000 pound aircraft over the fire, traveling at 130 knots and flying at least 150 feet above the ground. Then, they discharge the plane’s full 28,000-pound load of slurry out through a tube near the left rear of the aircraft, all of it gone in under five seconds.“It’s challenging because you’re trying to correct for the winds all the time as well as how your flight path is going to change,” Hoke said.
FIREFIGHTING AERIALDROP WILDFIRE C-130 AVIATION EMERGENCYRESPONSE
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