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

Cool I get to answer one of these. There’s two main scoopers (we don’t call them water bombers) used in the US. AT-802 “Fireboss” and CL-415 (and some CL-215Ts). Both scoop water using the speed across the water to fill the tanks. The actual opening in the float systems is actually pretty small, about 4×8 inches on the 415, which are opened and closed from the cockpit.

While both aircraft can be loaded on the ground, they rarely do, especially with retardant. The fire bosses are just AT-802s (SEATs or Single Engine Air Tankers) used for firefighting with floats attached. With the extra weight they’re slower and can’t hold as much retardant as a SEAT without the floats. Also you’d have to rinse out the tank to go back to scooping. Scoopers work very well when there’s a water source much closer to the fire then an airport where they can get retardant, also retardant and water are used differently on a fire. This is why you don’t see many scoopers used in places like central Nevada since there’s no water sources.

As for how things are loaded while on the ground. All firefighting aircraft and bases that support them have a 3in cam-lock system where a 3in hose is connected to the aircraft and water/retardant is loaded at anywhere from 250 gallons to 500 gallons a min.