Firefighting Tankers and Support Aircraft

[Jay Beckman]

10 Tanker "912" On A Brush Fire Near Wild Horse Pass
His initial pass was directly over my house North to South at about 800'











And One Mono For Good Measure:

[Chris C.]

Some shots of Saturday's aerial firefighting efforts to keep the Bighorn Fire at bay. I happened to be in the right place at the right time when one of the 10 Tanker VLATs showed up.

Slurry Dump


Running In


Tanker 910


Bighorn Fire


Dip and Go


Tanker 910

[Ross Dinsdale]

Jay -  that monochrome conversion is gnarly.  Wall hanger for sure.

Chris - 1)Good to see you my friend. Its been a long time. 2)What an extraordinary set.  Your perspective (on a peak above fire i presume) is very rad.  Well played.

[Paul Larson]

Saturday 06-June-2020 Type 2 (Bell 205 A++/205A-1 is the civilian version of the UH-1H ) N205RH SN.30127 Catalina Assigned to the Bighorn Fire, CNF-413. Assisting with Bucket Ops and Helibase support.

Saturday 06-June-2020 Type 2  (Bell 205 A++/205A-1 is the civilian version of the UH-1H ) N205RH SN.30127  Catalina Assigned to the Bighorn Fire, CNF-413. Assisting with  Bucket Ops and Helibase support. by Paul Larson, on Flickr

[tajmahal250]

Wow, Chris, those shots of the Bighorn Fire are awesome! Talk about good timing.

[Jeff D. Welker]

Some shots of Saturday's aerial firefighting efforts to keep the Bighorn Fire at bay. I happened to be in the right place at the right time when one of the 10 Tanker VLATs showed up.

Amazing work Chris. Well done sir.

[Chris C.]

Thanks guys! I apologize for my absence from the forum. I finally figured out a good workflow for processing and posting images in a more doable time-frame.

Ross, I'm glad to be back and look forward to shooting with you again. I shot the DC-10 from a business park off Oracle Road at the foot of the Catalinas and the others from Catalina State Park. I got lucky when the DC-10 made a steep run down the face of the mountain straight for my position.

[Ned Harris]

Tanker 105, an MD-87,  making a slurry drop on the Bighorn Fire. June 7, 2020._W5A5890 Tanker 105 slurry drop by Ned Harris, on Flickr

[Ned Harris]

Tanker 10 (Neptune Aviation BAe-146). Bighorn fire. June 7, 2020.

_W5A6232 Neptune Aviation Tanker 10 at work by Ned Harris, on Flickr

[Ned Harris]

"Lead" aircraft pulls up as Tanker 15 begins it's drop. Bighorn Fire. June 7, 2020.
_W5A6254 "Lead" aircraft pulling up as Tanker 10 begins her slurry drop. by Ned Harris, on Flickr

[Tower Guy]

Great 2 aircraft catch Ned, nice work,

[Ned Harris]

Thanks Harvey. I appreciate your comments on my images. Yesterday was amazing here. We had 2 DC-10s, three BAe-146 and an MD-87 workring that fire as well as 2 Chinooks, a  Blackhawk and a Sikorsky Skycrane. It was quite the show. They did an excellent job and saved all the threatened homes.

[Ned Harris]

VLAT action shot. Bighorn fire. June 12, 2020.
_W5A7025 Tanker 910 slurry drop by Ned Harris, on Flickr

[Tower Guy]

WOW! Sorry for the fire, but this is an opportunity for aviation photography that doesn't come around very often. Great photo Ned. 

[Bill]

Stunning shot Ned!

Bill