How long before this ends badly?

Those DC-10 crews should sell some DVDs. Might cut down on the ~$26,000 per hour charge.
I'm seriously on the wrong end of firefighting as a career!

$26, grand an hour??? I make roughly $10 smacks an hour flying a fire truck! I've defiantly screwed the pooch on my career!

Anyone give me some flying lessons this weekend? ;)
 
To be fair... gassing up and crewing a DC-10 ain't cheap. But yeah... that's the going rate that I last heard the company charges for its use. Not sure if that is wet/wet or not, or if it is wet/dry, dry/wet, or dry/dry. Make sense? :)
 
I don't see these air attack guys selling DVD series about themselves and getting profits from suck videos.


Your jealousy is pretty telling.

pumadu2a.jpg
 
you'll likely never see the MAFFS do this...

woooo hoooo we're cowboys!!!


that is a 100,000 pound airplane!


Do what? A pushover crossing a ridge line? That's our bread and butter!!

100,000 lbs... That's child's play! :biggrin:
 
I don't see these air attack guys selling DVD series about themselves and getting profits from suck videos.
The Discovery Channel is about to make a new reality show based on them, complete with staged fires, cool A/C paint jobs, and small babies for the coiffed, rayban-equipped pilots to cuddle after mission accomplished.
 
Do what? A pushover crossing a ridge line? That's our bread and butter!!

100,000 lbs... That's child's play! :biggrin:
Nice...you're a MAFFS pilot?

BTW we did two more down and down to finish the line to the bottom...I just didn't record it...
 
Nice...you're a MAFFS pilot?

BTW we did two more down and down to finish the line to the bottom...I just didn't record it...
I think he said that he is in the Cal ANG and flying a very tiny airplane. lol (actually one of my fave beasts, if he is still on it) Still in mourning over Boeing taking them and the C-17 from LGB. sigh.There's some some maintenance and repair though. Mercedes is moving in there. wtf! blargggg
 
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The 747 VLAT T-979 is no more. Parked at my field at KMZJ with engines being removed; likely headed with its sister Evergreen -200s to the scrap area across the runway.

I have a photo I took of the airplane I was flying at the time next to it on the ramp. I'll have to dig it out.
 
nice...yeah it looks like those guys are getting more and more sporty...I never have seen one go over on a pushover like that, yet ;) The problem is that there is personnel turnover, vs. at AUC we had guys flying the thing for 20 years, with or without lead planes (MAFFS still require a LP) and I think honestly that the P3 is more maneuverable...am I wrong about that? The P3 really felt like a heavy Brasilia, which was a sports car...I considered the P3 more like a sports sedan.
 
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nice...yeah it looks like those guys are getting more and more sporty...I never have seen one go over like that, yet ;) The problem is that there is turnover, and I think honestly that the P3 is more maneuverable...am I wrong about that? It really felt like a heavy Brasilia, which was a sports car...I considered the P3 more like a sports sedan.

I've never been inside a P3, but we've got one or two dudes in our squadron that came over from the NAVY that flew them, I'll have to ask how the two compare. The stretched J is 15 feet longer than the "shorty" and the roll rate is not as responsive. The short J is a little rocketship (relatively speaking) but not used for MAFFS.

@MikeD I've heard plenty of stories from the old "Hollywood Guard" - wish we never left VNY!
 
@MikeD I've heard plenty of stories from the old "Hollywood Guard" - wish we never left VNY!

Any idea what the old Guard base there is used for now? I remember well when the -130s were still there.

As that unit was the "Hollywood Guard" to airlift birds, so was your sister unit as it came to fighters down at March with F-4s when they still had them.
 
Any idea what the old Guard base there is used for now? I remember well when the -130s were still there.

As that unit was the "Hollywood Guard" to airlift birds, so was your sister unit as it came to fighters down at March with F-4s when they still had them.

No idea, it would be cool to see if there's anything remaining. A lot of history there, it was neat to see some of it in the documentary about VNY in "16R". I think the last fighter our squadron flew was the F-86 before the transition to airlift.
 
Any idea what the old Guard base there is used for now? I remember well when the -130s were still there.

As that unit was the "Hollywood Guard" to airlift birds, so was your sister unit as it came to fighters down at March with F-4s when they still had them.

It was torn down years ago. It's a dirt lot now. Soon to be "Prop Park West."
 
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