Official Aviation Thread...

[flyboyx]

You could hop on one for a trip to UK or Germany. My most memorable flight on one was way back when Flying Tigers flew them as contract missions to and from the Pacific Rim. I had a seat in the nose from SFO to Osan AB RoK with stops on the way in Anchorage where the jet broke down for 4 days and Yokota AB Japan.

Smooth flight much like flying on Fred aka C5.

flying tigers.....that dates you. lol. lots of foreign carriers still have them in service. when i say "fly", i was more talking about piloting instead of riding.

i have had the opportunity to ride on a few of them. in 1993, i took a continental 747-200 from newark to london gatwick and back. in about 1996, i rode northwest airlines in a 747-400 from detroit to bejing and back. this flight was 17 hours and some change. i believe it was the longest fight at the time. we actually flew over the arctic close to the north pole and also over siberia. i guess i have also ridden on several united generic 74's from honolulu to lax or chicago. finally, my brother and i flew on a whale from detroit to tokyo and back around 1997.

^

Fun fact, while flying home from PA a couple weeks ago, I sat next to a Sky Crane pilot that fly's fire duty for the forest service, (for a different outfit than you have here Will) based out of San Diego, but lives up here. Was a really cool dude to talk to, and learn a little bit about the ins and outs of how they do what they do.

i used to fly with a guy who flew helicopter fire suppression in the pnw in the summer and twin otters in the south pacific in the winter. he was also a great guy and full of fantastic stories.

he used to bitch about the sikorsky sky crane. according to him, the aircraft was capable of lifting a lot more water than the tank shown in the photo above. apparently, no one ever made the effort to make better mods or a supplemental type certificate for it. he said something to the effect that it was kind of like a 7 foot basketball player with a 2" dick.

[ThatM20Guy]

Update on my flying stuffs. On winter break right now but I will be taking my instrument checkride mid January and starting on commercial rating next semester as well. I will also be getting my taildragger endorsement. Really looking forward to it!

[flyboyx]

noice!!!! congratulations! you are on your way!

my son just passed his multi commercial today!

[ThatM20Guy]

noice!!!! congratulations! you are on your way!

my son just passed his multi commercial today!

Awesome! One of my friends just passed his commercial 2 weeks ago and a bunch of my CFI friends are on their way to Republic this winter/spring

[mrsleeve]

i used to fly with a guy who flew helicopter fire suppression in the pnw in the summer and twin otters in the south pacific in the winter. he was also a great guy and full of fantastic stories.

he used to bitch about the sikorsky sky crane. according to him, the aircraft was capable of lifting a lot more water than the tank shown in the photo above. apparently, no one ever made the effort to make better mods or a supplemental type certificate for it. he said something to the effect that it was kind of like a 7 foot basketball player with a 2" dick.

Gentleman I was talking to said much the same thing, that its got way more capacity than utilized and has plenty of power and lift to do just about anything even loaded up.

[BlackbirdM3]

This CH47D was impressive and is the only internally tanked one in the world. I was talking with the ground crew and I think they said it holds 2700 gallons. Takes 90 seconds to fill it. No speed restrictions on it either. I'm pretty sure the Skycranes don't carry that much (1700 sticks in my mind) Knowing that a Skycrane can pretty much pick up just about anything it wants (within reason) I was very surprised to learn how little they were actually picking up. That Columbia Ch47 doesn't have nearly the lift capability of the Skycrane from what I understand.

As I was processing these shots I thought it was cool that I was able to catch the notes the pilot was writing on the window after every load. (sorry about the giant pic)


Will

[hoveringuy]

As I was processing these shots I thought it was cool that I was able to catch the notes the pilot was writing on the window after every load. (sorry about the giant pic)

Lol.. I used to to that. Super handy way of keeping track of things.

[BlackbirdM3]

As I was processing these shots I thought it was cool that I was able to catch the notes the pilot was writing on the window after every load. (sorry about the giant pic)

Lol.. I used to to that. Super handy way of keeping track of things.

I totally agree. I just thought it was cool that I was able to get close enough, with a big enough lens to see. I wish I could pull the writing out enough to read it.

Will

[flyboyx]

looks like bombing run locations? my guess is that someone radios the location while preparing for the next load and he jots it down there.

[BlackbirdM3]

looks like bombing run locations? my guess is that someone radios the location while preparing for the next load and he jots it down there.

Possibly. Both the Skycrane and the Ch47d were attacking the same area. Load, dump, reload. I bet I could have set up my camera on the tripod and pointed it in the same place and just reshot the same frame for an hour and had both in the frame the whole time. They weren't moving far. Radio frequencies are a good bet, pond locations and number of loads out of each could also be a possibility.

Will

[flyboyx]

true. radio frequencies would look like 118.75 or 127.3, etc. normally, i think that if you were in the same location you would probably use the same one all day unless you have to transition in and out of someone's airspace like sfo or lax's class B.

[BlackbirdM3]

true. radio frequencies would look like 118.75 or 127.3, etc. normally, i think that if you were in the same location you would probably use the same one all day unless you have to transition in and out of someone's airspace like sfo or lax's class B.

Yes I know what a radio frequency looks like. (I've been around planes since I was 2 weeks old.) When fire fighting, you have the air tankers, helicopters, military (helicopters) ground crews, (Cal fire, USFS). I'm not sure if different groups use different frequencies or not. Obviously everyone is on one frequency or at least monitoring it, but I'm not sure if the helos are on their own, tankers on another, guys on the ground, ect. I'd have to guess that with everyone on the same frequency would become difficult to remember who is who and who is doing what. (I forgot to grab my scanner when I was shooting the fires.) This could be why all the writing is on the window. Might also be loads out of the different ponds, apparently Cal Fire and USFS need to refill the different ponds after they are done. (They used a LOT of water in the area.)

Will

[M-technik-3]

Here is a neat one I came across today. Guy said he was play a hanger dance and he saw this neat application of a John Deere 318 as a tug and it's made by Deere.

[BlackbirdM3]

A few more shots from Reno this year.

















Happy Holidays,
Will

[hoveringuy]

Yes I know what a radio frequency looks like. (I've been around planes since I was 2 weeks old.) When fire fighting, you have the air tankers, helicopters, military (helicopters) ground crews, (Cal fire, USFS). I'm not sure if different groups use different frequencies or not. Obviously everyone is on one frequency or at least monitoring it, but I'm not sure if the helos are on their own, tankers on another, guys on the ground, ect. I'd have to guess that with everyone on the same frequency would become difficult to remember who is who and who is doing what. (I forgot to grab my scanner when I was shooting the fires.) This could be why all the writing is on the window. Might also be loads out of the different ponds, apparently Cal Fire and USFS need to refill the different ponds after they are done. (They used a LOT of water in the area.)

Will

I would think they're all on the same frequency, even if there is a FAC coordinating everyone. It's just too important for S.A.

My guess on the windshield notes is that it's logistics information for maintenance record keeping. Flight times and water/retardant loads. I don't know if they bill by the hour or by "ordnance" delivered.