[TreeDoc]

I live 15 minutes from a major CalFire Air Attack Squadron. The staple for air attack here in California is the Lockheed P3 Orion which is the US Navy's land based Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft that I crewed in. We also have a slug of the predecessor to the P3, the P2 Ventura. Not sure if they're using the C130 as in the last few years after a couple folded up out of state.

Now we have the DC-10 that CalFire has used on several fires this season. She (910) drops quite a load of Phoscheck or water.

The problem with these big birds is manuverabilty. The terrain is steep and riddled with deep canyons. 910 was fighting the White Fire here in California back in June. As she was setting up for a drop, the aircraft sank out due to windshear or some unforseeable phenomenon. The crew powered out and was successful at keeping the huge slug aloft. Upon inspection on the ground, the leading edges of the wings were battered and torn up from hitting the tops of trees. Imagine that in a DC-10!

As much as I hate to say it, I firmly believe we'll be reading about that plane and how they aluminum plated some mountainside in the not so distant future. Hopefully I'm wrong.