DC-10 VLAT fire bomber

[Nicolas_Fantich]

Recalling this thread I spotted recently, I thought I'd share some news I caught up with from back home............

http://www.smh.com.au/national/states-b ... 32pi1.html

I am not sure why the aircraft type is 'hush hush' - not many water bombing aircraft have a 40,000 litre capacity.

On my way down to Melbourne through Albury and NE Victoria before Christmas, I saw those lightning strikes that started the fires near Wodonga. A lightning strike just north of Seymour hit the Hume highway median and blocked southbound traffic for about 40 minutes. I was caught up in that. Two CFA trucks from Longwood and Avenel attended. Once the road was open to traffic again, you could see that something like 50-100m of scrub in the median was all black and smouldering (after being extinguished) and the fire hadn't managed to get a hold of the tree trunks and branches fortunately. I guess the rapid response of the volunteer crews, the equipment carried by the trucks, the relative proximity of the resources to the fire and the relatively easy access to the fire zone nipped that one in the bud so to speak. Lightning strikes in inaccessible areas. however, are another story. I guess we all know the potential of those sorts of fires. Sobering thoughts. I hope the RFS get everything they can out of these trials to make effective use of the public resources so expended and potentially develop some useful tactics in employing 'monsters' like the DC-10 tanker.