SuperTanker works on a fire near Navidad, Chile

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wingTags , , ,

Just a quick video of the 747 SuperTanker pulling up to the reload pit at Santiago, Chile airport after completing its seventh sortie on February 1, 2017, making a total of 11 drops on the 7 sorties. Six of the sorties were near Navidad and Matanzas 115 miles (185 km) southwest of the Santiago airport where many structures were threatened. The seventh was near Concepcion, 404 miles (650 km) south of Santiago. In total, 138,400 gallons (508,759 l.) were delivered to assist the firefighters on the ground who actually put out the fires.

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13 thoughts on “SuperTanker works on a fire near Navidad, Chile”

  1. Are you confusing gallons with pounds? That is over 1,000,000 pounds. Do you drop that much in a day in the 415?

    1. Haha no Pat I am not confused. Scoopers regularly do that kind of work. One day last summer we did 136 drops at 1620 US gallons per drop works out to more than 220,000 gallons or 1.8 million pounds of water. This is not uncommon for CL-415’s or even CL-215’s. This is why scooper guys take exception when a 747 does 7 drops and claims a new world record. They are going to have to pick it up a notch to claim that achievement.

        1. Well according to their site it was 508,760 but either way it is not even close to breaking any record like they are claiming.

  2. That could very well be but their claim on their Facebook page of setting a new world record of most gallons ever dropped by a single aircraft in one day is completely false. It is not even close to a record!

  3. Land base VLAT compared to a scooper? I believe the DC 10 is close to the 747 gallons delivered in one operational day. What I thought that was impressive when I read the article was the distances to the targets. Total gallons delivered per air mile could be a historic record. I came up with approximately 9 gallons of Pyrocool enhanced water per air mile delivered.

  4. Actually CL-215’s and CL-415’s routinely drop more gallons than that in a day. Not sure how the Global Airtanker people can just arbitrarily state that a 134,000 gallons in a day is some sort of a new world record of gallons dropped in a single day by an aircraft. We had a CL-415 drop over 160,000 gallons in one mission which consisted of 3.6 hours. I hope they will set the record straight!

      1. Adam you are correct except they go that distance to work a fire but don’t haul water that far. The point is they are claiming to have achieved a world record and they are not even close!

        1. Isn’t that a drop like every 5 minutes? I’m not sure exactly how much your Scoopers were carrying, but every 5 minutes is a pretty good feat. Bravo.

          1. Adam a CL-415 carries 1620 US gallons and a 2 minute turn around is not hard to do provided you have a lake near the fires like in the pictures posted earlier of the fires in Chile. We carry fuel for a 4 hour mission so you can move a lot of water with it in that time.

    2. I think you have confused gallons with pounds. From statistics published, the CL -415 carries a max of 13,536 lb (less than 2000 gallons) of water or retardant. That would take over 80 runs to drop a million pounds.

      1. It’s pretty common stuff for a scooper. The record which is held in Ontario is 104 drops in one mission, 3.6 hours of flight time. It’s all documented and correct!

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