belly tanks

[407 Driver]

FireHawk, the picture has arrived, Thanks Kyle

 

[4961]

Belly tank indeed. No longline window on a ship that's stripped out for lifting, seems strange. Did you check out the chin bubble? Small to say the least. I'd guess that that thing is going to have a hard time getting water on the target. Maybe the co-pilot will open the door and stick his head out.

 

[Bruised Armpit]

I too saw N241WJ of Luc's when it came through Sudbury a few weeks ago. They (214ST's) are quite a sight. Big. From the look/shape of the airframe, one would assume they are a good part composite. Does anybody know much about the specs. of these ships? I don't.

 

[XoNe]

From what I heard.... I thought luc bought a major part of one larger Quebec operators??? Maybe it's all part of the same consortium French.

 

[frenchwrench]

Someone told me that Heli Excel bought 2 214 St's also.

 

[407 Driver]

From what I heard from our pilot-on-location, the ST is not impressing many people. Having the Bucket on the belly is not the answer for a heavy. I was on the fire today, bucketing along side the S64 Tanker......just me and him, good match-up hey, the only aircraft that could possibly keep up....

WARNING>>> Excessive BS overload

 

[VERTICAL REF]

hey 407,

no aircraft should ever have a bambi attached to anything but the bottom of the longline...even an R22!!!

i watch these "bellie bucketers" on the wx channel and the news and laugh till i get pissed off!!! but what do i know eh?

if you need a crew change on your 407 let me know. went for my first ride in one last month...almost as fun as a medium.

play safe in the camp fire buddy!!!

 

[Heli Ops]

407Driver - You should see Johnny McDermotts 214Bs in OZ as he has just had a belly tank certified for them. Looks awesome and drops a xxxx load of water. Should make a difference (hopefully) on this upcoming fire season here downunder.

Heli Ops

 

[firehawk]

 

[407 Driver]

Hey V-Ref, congrats on the 407 ride, you'd love to fly this rocket for a day or two.
I agree that the Only way to bucket is on a line, way safer when in the water, way more accurate drops, and for those of us that do everything on the line, way faster. I was lapping a 212 yesterday, mainly because of his time-to-fill and my climb rate. With his belly hookup, he needed a wide spot in the river, I used any calm spot on the river, regardless of the tree height....When the wind kicked up to 20 Kts, I lowered the bucket to just below canopy height, and dropped without much wind drift, he was dropping from 50' to 100' over canopy, and not hitting much. They parked him, and I flew all day.....

 

[Cobra]

What altitude you working at with your 407? What sort of temps are you working with? Must have to have that bucket pulled into 50 percent so you don't temp out. I know moving bags with it in the middle of summer at altitude it is a struggle.

 

[407 Driver]

50% ????? that was funny. It's not an Astar man, I'm running the 180 Gallon bucket at 80 or 90%, starting 1.5 hours of bucketing at 700 lbs of fuel, and still a$$-kicking a 212, (but I admit the guy was really slow). The fire is around 5,000' and it was around 30c. A new B2 on site is running at 70%, and doing a good job with that load.

 

[100ft]

4961,
Speaking of class A loads, was that you with the ski rack in YVK this week? If so, what role, if any, do you have in our local fire?

100'

 

[firehawk]

Hey 407, I guess the 212 guy gets payed by the hour taking his time sipping his coffee enjoying life. Theres no question that the 407 will out perform it, its the king of the sky. Although I remember lapping a astar with a longline on a fire with my 212 could'nt quit figure that one out, no matter how much I kept slowing down I kept catching up to it. Again must be the hourly thing.

 

[4961]

100 ft that guy is Dave Brolin. Doing IA and not flying much. The machine BHW is one of ours, it's a straight B. The ski basket is awesome for fires, 200 lbs of whatever fits. All of our Astars (3) have them.
I'm sitting on reds at the Pemberton fire base, not doing much with a BA. Brought the lap top today to keep me from going nuts

Be careful what you wish for.