how does a water bomber for fighting forest fires ingest all that water? Do the pilots have to keep adding more power as the plane’s weight changes to prevent it from dropping into the water?

Question

how does a water bomber for fighting forest fires ingest all that water? Do the pilots have to keep adding more power as the plane’s weight changes to prevent it from dropping into the water?

In: 444

Answer 1

Not exactly what you asked, but for helicopters, we have a big flexible bag that hangs from the bottom of the cargo hook. You hover over the water then slowly lower the bucket until it submerges and fills up. Once it’s full, slowly add power until the bucket breaks the surface completely. Flying to the fire is hard because you have a ton of weight dangling around and if you’re not careful you can cause it to swing really bad and potentially endanger the aircraft. When you get to the fire you fly slowly on whatever heading required and release the bottom of the bucket so the water streams out. You have to be ready to drop a ton of power at the same time because you suddenly weigh x thousand of pounds less.