Questions tagged [firefighting]

Questions about fighting fires, either using aircraft, or involving aircraft.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
28 votes
2 answers
4k views

How do water bombers pick up water?

I saw a couple of CL-415s near my lake house a few days ago, and it got me wondering, how do they pick up water? What method do they use to get water into the water tanks? How long does it take to ...
Mateo's user avatar
  • 746
22 votes
4 answers
4k views

What plane is most similar to the LEGO Firefighter Aircraft 42152?

I want to identify a LEGO Firefighter Aircraft: LEGO set #42152 Is this model based on a real plane? Does anyone have any ideas?
Malkhaz Nikolashvili's user avatar
24 votes
4 answers
4k views

Why do most ARFF trucks tend to be so angular?

玄史生, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons I've been looking at various types of ARFF (aircraft rescue and firefighting) apparatus, and while some rapid-response vehicles do appear to be more conventional, most ...
MD88Fan's user avatar
  • 2,474
0 votes
1 answer
95 views

What kind of signal is outputted from engine fire sensors

Engine fire sensor informs the pilot engine fire and triggers fire extinguisher to release their payload. However, fire extinguisher valves are controlled through pressure operated switches or ...
Faito Dayo's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
673 views

How do water bomber pilots deal with the changing forces and mass when scooping water?

How does a pilot flying the scooping maneuver in a CL415 firefighting plane deal with the changing forces from taking on such a large mass of water (nearly 50% of the plane's own mass) as quickly as ...
AJMansfield's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
477 views

How much extinguishing agent is needed for an engine fire?

I am quite interested in the firefighting fluid tank choices in turbofan-equipped aircraft. As seen in this picture: Although this is only the APU, but the fire extinguishing agent bottle looks quite ...
Faito Dayo's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
152 views

Who make the fuel system, cabin pressurization system, and firefighting system?

Who makes the fuel, cabin pressurization, and engine firefighting system for an aircraft with engines on, or in, the wings? Fuel tanks and fuel pipes, pressurized air pipes and heat exchanger, and ...
Faito Dayo's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
180 views

What are those green LED arrays on top of the instrument panel called?

Below is the link showing a fire fighting aircraft From 0:23 to 0:45 an LED array can be seen. The peculiar thing about that is as aircraft approaches the site, all ...
vlad 's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
2 answers
283 views

Would one expect Canadair CL-215 or CL-415 planes to be equipped with a working ADS-B transpoder?

In a forrest fire in Greece, on which according to news sources eight such planes are operating as firefighters, no planes can be seen on Flightradar24. Only a fire service's helicopter can be seen ...
Diomidis Spinellis's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
1k views

What kind of aircraft are currently being used by Boulder County to fight wildfires?

I was wondering, what kind of aircraft are currently being used by Boulder County to fight wildfires? For example, see photo attached of a plane dropping flame retardant on a wildfire over Left-Hand ...
jbeard4's user avatar
  • 223
2 votes
0 answers
123 views

How many smoke detectors does the A340 cargo deck have, and how are they wired?

I am a student of Aerospace Engineering, currently I am one year away from completing my degree. For my Electric Routing class I was asked to recreate in Catia the fire system in the cargo bay of an ...
MauCo's user avatar
  • 21
8 votes
1 answer
491 views

Stress on wing/fuselage-joint of aerial water tanker aircraft - and possible mitigating measures

Following the unfortunate crash of a C-130 aerial water tanker aircraft in Australia, a friend brought to my attention a 2002 C-130 tanker crash in the US. As can also be seen in this video, the wings ...
Bram's user avatar
  • 1,062
3 votes
1 answer
600 views

What is the correct procedure for operating the engine fire extinguishers on an ATR72?

I am developing an application for airport fire crew and ground staff. Part of the application is to familiarize users with emergency procedures of various aircraft. I have a few questions about the ...
Adrian Taylor's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
546 views

Do airport fire departments have to have airstairs?

On the video of the JetBlue 292 landing (at 4:27), one of the first emergency vehicles to approach the Airbus is a fire department airstair. I've never seen a fire department with its own airstair. I ...
Andrew Brēza's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
8k views

Which are more efficient in putting out wildfires: planes or helicopters?

A lake is near where both helicopter and plane can access the water and fire. Which aircraft (if you had access to only one) is more efficient in putting out wildfires? Which aircraft is preferred to ...
Muze's user avatar
  • 1
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why is there always a fire truck present before refuelling?

Whenever I fly within Europe, I notice there is always a fire truck present for refuelling before takeoff. Is this standard procedure for every flight in commercial aviation? If yes, is this a global ...
Cloud's user avatar
  • 12.5k
4 votes
1 answer
429 views

How should ground crews act to safely extinguish an airliner's brake unit fire?

When the brake unit was overheated and had just begun to catch fire due to excessive braking because of long taxi distance upon arrival, the ground personnel (not firefighters) made the first ...
GolfCharlie's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
192 views

Are there regulations that limit the airports an air carrier can visit based on rescue equipment?

ICAO Annex 14 (which deals primarily with SARPS for international airports) outlines requirements for rescue and firefighting that the airports shall have based on the fuselage lengths of the planes ...
user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
209 views

What happens to flight operations if no ARFF vehicle is available at a CAT 3 airfield?

There is a domestic VFR airfield that has the DHC6 Twin Otter as its critical aircraft operating there, making the field an ICAO CAT 1B aerodrome. With regards to ARFF it is a CAT 3 aerodrome and ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

What does "With One Minute Weather" Mean?

Yesterday I was listening to LiveATC at McClellan Field (KMCC) since many CAL Fire Tankers are stationed there and there's a lot of activity recently. As the tankers returned from their bombing runs, ...
SnakeDoc's user avatar
  • 2,418
1 vote
0 answers
138 views

What exactly is this thing at LAX? [duplicate]

I noticed this recently on Google Earth located on the southwest corner of KLAX in Playa Del Ray, CA. Upon examination, I'm guessing the facility is used by firefighting crews for practice putting ...
Romeo_4808N's user avatar
  • 72.8k
34 votes
2 answers
4k views

Southwest corner of LAX has peculiar airplane parts, what is this area?

In the Southwest corner of LAX (at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Pershing Dr.) there is a strange looking area that appears to have some abandoned airplane parts. Also, it looks like a road-...
Trevor's user avatar
  • 525
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Wind speed over which a Canadair fire fighting plane cannot safely fly?

We recently had some forest fires in Athens, Greece while the weather was very windy. The news said it had 8 beaufort of wind speed (34-40 knots, 38–46 mph) and in these conditions it's dangerous to ...
cherouvim's user avatar
  • 243