747 fire be gone model

ok. i will admit. i'm lazy, and i have found that google doesn't really suit me at times. what is the latest info on using wide body commercial aircraft such as the 747 for wildfires? i know that trials were conducted a few years ago on their feasibility, what has come about? also, altitude was an initial concern but the sheer volume of retardant more than made up for this. status? FAA certification? info!

Found this article via Google News:
Certification Of Evergreen 747 Tanker Delayed

Any idea how they fill it with water? I can't imagine a 747 dive-bombing and scooping up water out of a lake as is done with other water-bomber aircraft. (Well, I can imagine it, but it doesn't seem practical! :lol

[edit on 27-5-2006 by Xenophobe]

I assume they'd fill up on the ground from a tanker truck or something along those lines.

some pics of it in action:
www.airliners.net...

www.airliners.net...

www.airliners.net...

Wow, beautiful pics jra!

Now wouldn't that just be great on a hot, Summer day? Mmm refreshing!

Also, I found the website of the company that operates the plane:Evergreen Supertanker

I seem to remember seeing photos a while back of a DC-10 (or MD-11?) doing much the same thing. It might have been at the Paris airshow or a similar large event a couple of years back.
I'll go Google it and see if I can find a link.

That didn't take long....Paris airshow 2005

www.airliners.net...

Most water bombers are refilled by trucks after landing. There are only a few that are capable of scooping water to refill.

The local news here in Tallahassee Florida (WTXL Ch 27) just did a short story on the plane this week. Evergreen Aviation has the plane out on "Tour", showing it off. It supposedly landed here in Tallahassee but I thought our runways were too short for a 747.

A lot of runways that they say aren't long enough for a 747, aren't long enough for a LOADED 747. We used to get the Prime Minister of Japan coming to Hawaii, and he'd land on Maui, which can't take a 747. So they would drop him off there, fly the plane to Oahu, fly back and pick him up, and return to Oahu so they could get enough fuel to fly to wherever they were going. They could barely get out of there with enough fuel to make it to the West Coast of the US.