News & commentary about aerial firefighting, air tankers, and helicopters

Check out the video below of a precision retardant drop by Tanker 72, an S2T, a CAL FIRE air tanker based in Southern California. It occurred in very difficult terrain on the Border #19 wildfire near the US/Mexico border June 24, 2022. The video was shot by the FIRIS intelligence-gathering aircraft.

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That was some nice flying with a slight bend to the left but, honestly, it was fairly unremarkable. Tanker drivers lay it in there like that all the time, they’re pros!

Great Drop even if they do do it as part of the job all of the time! A bonus getting to see the tag on in IR ! Excellent tag on to leave no gaps in the retardant line!

As a Former CTARNG CH54B F/E I like seeing Pictures & Videos of Anything to do with Fixed & Fling Wings. Whenever an ERC Crane gets screen time I write the N # on anything available at the moment…. Then X reference online to the original US Army #. “B” Models have 4 main gear wheels. “A” Models have 2. B Models designed for Max External Single Point Loads @ 25,000 lbs. with more HP Pratts. A Models 20,000 Pounds. Sikorsky started way way back with the A models which was Egors Dream Helicopter. Competition and the need for more External Load Lift began with the 1969 and 1970 B Model. Note: And Yes we had a 1000 gallon Fiberglass Bucket. Problem: Ct. residents complained we were lowering Water Levels of their lakes. Nowadays viewers prefer to see the Harmless Bambi Buckets. That’s my Story. “Bubba” OIF1

Thanks for that, Bubba. I’ve been a fanboy of the aircranes ever since the Erickson’s started flying logs in my neck o’ the woods back in the 70s. I never noticed the 4 landing gear wheels on some models.

If you’ve never seen this it will give you plenty of N #s to research. https://www.jetphotos.com/airline/Erickson%20Air-Crane?term=Erickson%20Air-Crane https://www.jetphotos.com/airline/Helicopter%20Transport%20Services

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