CH47 Chinook firefighter

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hirschr
Posts: 186
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:21 pm
Location: Chattanooga, TN

CH47 Chinook firefighter

Post by hirschr »

I caught the Athens TN, 5th Saturday fly in breakfast over the weekend and this bad boy was on the ramp! I had no idea that these big birds were re-purposed for firefighting. The Columbia crew gave us in impromptu tour and even let us sit in the cockpit. It has a 2800 gal internal tank that it can fill from a drop tube in about 4 minutes. They contract with the forest service and are in the area for the fires near Ocoee filling from Parksville lake. Impressive to say the least!
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ch47-3.JPG (116.35 KiB) Viewed 9511 times
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ch47-1.JPG (126.15 KiB) Viewed 9511 times
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ch47-2.JPG (121.12 KiB) Viewed 9511 times
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foresterpoole
Posts: 307
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2016 12:28 pm
Location: Alexandria, LA

Re: CH47 Chinook firefighter

Post by foresterpoole »

Those things are awesome, a lot better in my opinion than the single engine air tankers some states use. Not to knock the SEATS, but the chopper can drop more retardant/water than a SEAT can and I find they can do it accurately. Just my 2 cents, I worked a few fires with the state of Arkansas, and now I'm in private forestry, it was always an awesome sight watching them drop. Get downwind of one with a full load of retardant (red stuff) and you might look like a cherry though!!!
Ed
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