Jumbo jets may be used to fight bushfires
Jumbo jets may be used to fight bushfires
30 April 2009
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — Jumbo jets could be used to fight bushfires in Victoria.
Fire authorities are waiting to see how Boeing 747s perform in fire-fighting trials in the United States.
Victorian State Aircraft Unit spokesman Nick Ryan says the planes can carry up to 75,000 litres of water compared to a helicopter’s capacity of 9,000 litres.
But he says there are other issues that must be considered, such as landing and refilling the jets.
“They take quite a while to refill, sort of half an hour and to get out to the fire and back again,” he said.
“So depending on where the fire was, if you could do a load every hour or hour and a half, that would be pretty optimistic.”
