The spotter plane (or bird dog plane) marks the spot for the tanker to drop the fire retardant.
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Seems pointless. Spotter is on the same course and altitude.
Why cant the tanker just spot the area and release as required?
Bird dog pilot not only directs bomber where to drop but also warns ground personnel about incoming deluge. Bird dog comes in with siren whooping which tells people on th ground to get out of the way. Not good to get hit by several hundred gallons of water coming out of the sky at 100+ mph. Bird dog also can maneuver better and quicker than bomber and is in communication with ground crews
And the bomber, as a commercial airframe, couldn't have anything near the perspective vertically, hills and whatnot of the bird dog. Guess they aim for the marker, velocity and altitude do the rest. Kind of like what a crop duster does alone. Of course stall speed of a single engine high wing is what, half that of the jet?
In fact with one more view, the bomber opens same time he penetrates the marker, stretching the lay down several hundred feet. Duration's about 4 seconds, at 140 odd knots is ~950 feet.
Thanks USN, making me fluent in time/speed/distance.
Firefighting helicopter fillup station.
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great idea for a refuelling station. We sometimes borrow "Elvis" here but I understand that our local Macdermet avaitation handles much of the fire fighting from the air and they usually have dams/lakes to top up the water.
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Super Scooper from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on a touch-and-go to refuel on water to combat the fire spread in Alaska.
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