UPDATE: DC-10 Water Bomber Saves Cupertino (and iPhones, iPods)

Remember Tanker 910, the innovative DC-10 water bomber we wrote about a few weeks back? The aircraft was spotted yesterday in the skies above Silicon Valley as the big jet was drafted to battle a 150-acre forest fire that broke out near Cupertino, California — just a few miles from the headquarters of Apple Inc.  It was the first time Tanker 910 made an appearance in the skies above the Bay Area.

By all indications, Tanker 910 played a decisive role in helping to contain the blaze before any homes were destroyed.  As CDF fire chief Mike Martin told KPIX-TV:

"The DC-10 is a big punch; it’s about 12,000 gallons. Our air tankers, the S2T’s we use, are 1,200, so it’s ten times each drop," said Chief Mike Martin of Cal Fire. "It did a great job for us today; we brought it up here because of the threat to Cupertino. It put about a half mile line between the homes and the fire. And that slowed down the progress of the fire until we could get into it, and then we utilized the helicopters and smaller fixed wings to work in and around, the canyons."

Action-packed video available via the links below.

UPDATE, 23 October, 2007
Tanker 910 is playing a major role in battling the huge wildfires that have engulfed Southern California. Find out more and watch the video at our updated post: DC-10 Fire Tanker Joins the Fight Against SoCal Blazes; Supertanker 747 Sits Idle

LINKS:
150-Acre Fire Near Cupertino Prompts Evacuations (KPIX-CBS news report, with embedded video)

RAW VIDEO: DC-10 Drops Water (KNTV NBC-11 embedded video.  RECOMMENDED!!)

PREVIOUSLY:
DC-10 Airliner Attacks Big California Wildfires

Comments

[elkit]

That was water it dropped? Why was it red?

[Telstar Logistics]

It's not water, actually... it's a fire retardant.

[Mike Harney]

Nice footage from Cupertino. The background on the aircraft is interesting, but puzzling to me in the end. The U.S. Forest Service has not approved this aircraft to work on fires under their jurisdiction, so it's strictly for state property, it seems.

The USFS reason for disallowing the tanker from fires on their land is not the usual argument -- that jet engines can be unnervingly and sometimes disastrously slow to spool up in an emergency (search for Paris Air Show A320 impacted trees or Delta 191). In fact, California has already wisely decided this will not be used for frontline suppression, where such incidents would be more likely, but more for the use it was just put to, laying down extended firebreaks.

The USFS says the reason it can't work on federal jurisdiction fires is that the aircraft has exceeded what they say is its design airframe hours (total flight time). They're saying 67,000 hours, but I can't seem to find reference to that total as the design lifetime hours for the DC-10. In fact, I found references to DC-10s still flying with 200,000+ airframe hours, and references that said design airframe hours were 100,000+ on one or two other aircraft from the DC-10 era.

Does anybody know the scoop on this? I'm curious as to whether this 67,000 number is arbitrary on the part of the USFS or perhaps it's a "down to the skeleton" overhaul point for that model of DC-10 and the company that rebuilt the aircraft as a tanker hasn't shown proof they did that. I'd also like to know the history and reasoning (if any) behind what appears to be a long-standing aversion to large tankers on the part of the USFS.

If their real reason is the slow engine spool-up on large jets and the understandable fear of a resulting spectacular addition to a fire (with thousands of pounds of jet fuel) that's under their control, they should just be honest. Heck, even turboprops sometimes aren't quick enough. There are scenes in "Always" (an underrated movie, I think), that still make me grind my teeth, sweat, and go, "Ack!" all at the same time.

[Cookie Jill]

This plane saved our proverbial "asses" down here in Santa Barbara.

I say "hurray!"

[Peter Lovell]

Spool-up time shouldn't be an issue if you fly it right. If you need quick response then never let the engines get down near idle. The photo shows flaps deployed (not clear how much, but quite a lot) which would keep the engines in the responsive power band.

So, I guess there's some other reason ...

[farang]

Wow. Home.

Near Steven's Creek dam?

Homestead, class of 73

Even knew the Job's, dated Patty J, "inhaled" with Woz's little brother P. Job's family lived up near Grant Rd., around the corner and up the street from my folks. Great peaceful place to grow up in the 70's, for certain.

Recall seeing Steve doing that "blackbox" thing with phones in the Shell station on the corner of Grant and Newcastle at 3:00am (no, don't ask what I was doing up at 3:00 ;<)

Man, went back there (first time in 17 years in states), couldn't believe how big the trees had grown in Los Altos around the Foothill/Grant area. Like tunnels, across the streets, sweet.

Hell, I didn't recognize anything, anywhere, especially up near Hwy 85 in Cupertino.

Lost it's charm, except that great weather (there October 1, 2006), THAT still is best time, best weather, anywhere. Like now, eh?

[Howard T]

Why does the federal government struggle with common sense?
We have many fire trucks that should not be on the street because they have exceeded their useful life, but we maintain them and use them.
A quality resource is a quality resource, obviously it has a great impact. Cost is a consideration, this jet is very expensive to fly.

[Howard T]

Why does the federal government struggle with common sense?
We have many fire trucks that should not be on the street because they have exceeded their useful life, but we maintain them and use them.
A quality resource is a quality resource, obviously it has a great impact. Cost is a consideration, this jet is very expensive to fly.

[Howard T]

Why does the federal government struggle with common sense?
We have many fire trucks that should not be on the street because they have exceeded their useful life, but we maintain them and use them.
A quality resource is a quality resource, obviously it has a great impact. Cost is a consideration, this jet is very expensive to fly.

[Dan Lindsay]

http://media.independent.com/img/ads/gapfire/TankerDropHi.jpg

[Lee Weinstein]

Very cool photos. Do you know what fire-retardant chemical they use in these air drops? I hope it's not something that winds up with the side effect of poisoning people.

[Rene]

Very interesting and informative blog.

Please share this with other in the bizymoms Cupertino community