Firefighting Tankers and Bombers

[GTagami]

Nice shots Chris!

[NikonGuy]

Nice shots Chris!

Yes   

[phantomphan1974]

Nice ones Chris and great website.

[Midnight Mover]

Had a little excitement down in my neighborhood yesterday when a propane tank exploded.  SD Fire air attack was called in to help prevent the spread of the blaze to nearby canyons.  Pretty impressive flying by those pilots!

If you want to see more (Including the guy who was taken down by the cops for not leaving the LZ), check them out on my site herehttp://www.socalaviation.net/Fire_in_the_Neighborhood_.html

Great shots

[kick Z tail out]

Chris, nice shots!!!!  I love those impromptu moments of action, especially when the excitement is close to home.

[robin990]

Two MI-14 Russion Helicopter.....with internal firefighting tanks. Grounded since the 1990s. Never worked a fire.

[NikonGuy]

WoW, that sucks...     but at least they flew    

great shot.

[rander]

All that money down the drain!!!!!

[Midnight Mover]

All that money down the drain!!!!!

Government

[Realbigtaco]

Chris, nice shots!!!!  I love those impromptu moments of action, especially when the excitement is close to home.

No kidding!!  This was literally 15-20 houses down the street from me.

thanks for all the compliments guys!

[kick Z tail out]

No kidding!!  This was literally 15-20 houses down the street from me.

thanks for all the compliments guys!

[kick Z tail out]

Well... after work yesterday morning I decided to head down to Azusa instead of sleeping, and try to catch some action at the Morris Fire. So began my ordeal.

I left home at 8am. Got to Azusa around 9:30. Discovered that no part of the fire was visible from anywhere, just the smoke. That was fine, because I had planned on, and had no problem with -- finding a forest trail to drive on. Problem was... Hwy 39 was closed completely all the way down in the city. It didn't even allow you to go a single mile closer. And so, you couldn't get to ANY of the trails. Same thing in Glendora, with Glendora Canyon Road. They had the thing locked down like no other.

So I get the bright idea to head up Hwy 2 (Angeles Crest) and out flank the road block. Thinking maybe I could get a better view driving in from the north. So I drive all the way out on the 210 to La Canada Flintridge and hop on Angeles Crest. Never been that way before. Wow, I was really taking the scenic route. Before long I was really regretting that I had set off that way. My lifted truck and mud terrains are a chore on a winding mountain road like that. Minutes turned into hours. Eventually, I noticed the road was taking me away from the fire more often than turning towards. Soon I was on the north side of the mountains, and could see desert. Is that Lancaster and Palmdale?! Crap!   I have to be home for work in a few hours!

After a long time of more driving, I saw a turn coming up on my GPS for the San Gabriel Canyon road. I pondered for a moment turning onto it, but decided against it. It looked like a heckuva long drive in itself, and I already was pissed that I was burning an entire tank of gas for nothing. Further, I figured to myself that I would probably drive for an hour on that only to find a road block and NOTHING that I could see. So I bypassed it and just wanted to get off that friggin mountain. 45 minutes later I dropped into the Cajon Pass, pissed off and with nothing to show for it. I was going to be going back to work with no sleep, and no shots.

To console myself, I decided to stop at the tanker base, since I was in the area. The main thing I wanted was to get some shots of the fed tankers on the fire (we never see them out here anymore), but I would settle for takeoff and landing shots.

[kick Z tail out]

Some of the fed tanker action from the USFS Tanker Base.

A nice mix of federal contract assets. All my old favorite Neptunes and my absolute favorite - an Aero Union Orion, with a pair of SEATs mixed in.

Tanker 27, Aero Union (P-3A)
Tanker 11, Neptune Aviation (P-2V)
Tanker 43, Neptune Aviation (P-2V)
Tanker 72, Cal Fire (S-2T)
Tanker 73, Cal Fire (S-2T)
Tanker 486 (Aero Tech SEAT)
Tanker 821 (Western Pilot Service SEAT)

The Neptune Neptunes were making jet assisted takeoffs all day long. Also, notice Neptune 43. Something is missing in the picture. Lets play a game and see who can find it...  

[akradecki]

Also, notice Neptune 43. Something is missing in the picture. Lets play a game and see who can find it... 

Hmmm...I bet that's not on the MEL list!

[NikonGuy]

Very cool shots, Nate.