Video from DC-10 training in New Mexico

The Albuquerque Journal ran a story today and uploaded a video about last week’s training for the flight crews of the DC-10 air tankers based at the city’s airport.

The gentleman in the video holding the radio is Rick Hatton, President and CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier. It was shot by Dean Hanson of the Albuquerque Journal.

Below is an excerpt from the article:

LAGUNA PUEBLO – Flying low over scrub and dusty truck trails, the big DC-10 jet dropped a load of water onto a Laguna Pueblo cattle pasture, banked left, grabbed some altitude and disappeared, obscured by the wet cloud left hanging in its wake.

Whoosh!

Five seconds after the plane dropped its load from 200 feet up, the sound of water displacing air murmured over the pale grass, stunted brush and cowpies toward seven observers on the ground.

“You get the temperature down and the humidity up,” Rick Hatton, one of the observers, said as the rumble of the DC-10’s engines receded in the distance. “You get out there early, get it done, get it out, so the fire never gets a name, never gets in the newspaper.”

Hatton, who flew F-4 Phantom jet fighter-bombers for the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, said the company’s DC-10s make things safer for the flight crews as well because they can get more done on fewer flights.

Rick Hatton John Gould
John Gould, (left) 10 Tanker’s Business Development Manager, and Rick Hatton, President and CEO. Photo by Bill Gabbert, from the May, 2014 Large Fire Conference in Missoula.

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One thought on “Video from DC-10 training in New Mexico”

  1. Great Vid! Again, a couple of VLAT squadrons (DC-10’s and 747’s), like Rick said, would, to paraphrase an old saying, “keep it simple, stupid…” (safer and cheaper in the long run). No ‘news’ is “GOOD NEWS”! He knew ‘the drill’ in ‘Nam, flying F-4 “Bricks”. Semper Fi!

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