FireBoss Water Scooper The Most Fun you can have without Explosives

[Music] have you ever seen one of these this is a crop duster they turned into a single engine air attack airplane to fight fires and they retardant down and not too long ago they put floats on it and scoops and now it's a water scooper and it scoops up about 800 gallons or so into the hopper and then they go drop that on fires actually on fires we're gonna check this out the fire boss [Music] anyway I'm Scott Purdue today fly where we're going to talk to George Moore and Jonna forget Celeste Thomas John Thomas their fire boss pilots for dauntless air out of Minnesota and they're down here in Mineral Wells Texas waiting to see if we have a fire of course what they didn't tell him was that we've had a lot of rain in Texas this year so everything's still green usually it's brown but it's time to have one fire yeah yeah we actually didn't made our late the first the first actual fired fire boss scooped water drops from a fire box in Texas just a few weeks ago so we did we have had actually one fire so far but it's drying out now so we're expecting more and more well tell me a little bit about that fire how did it go was it around here in this area I was it was more or less not a bean yeah it was just it was between PK lake and and Palo Pinto Lake and we actually got our scoops from Palo Pinto and I made two apiece on that and got it and put it on the fire but they the the Texas Forest Service people were out there in real good time they were paid truly they had it lassoed before before we got there but they didn't know for sure and I wanted to make sure because it was getting close to some houses and that's why we're here so anyway interest that was the first of many hopefully thing that's that's cool well I've I saw you guys fly today it actually looks like a hoot but it's like being in a movie so John how did you get into this how did you get into it wow that's pretty cool did you have your seaplane rating before that or you just do it and then do the fire boss I got my sequin trim in 2015 as a backup just just to have it done IRA needed it you know I needed it to like build company that I was lucky I had gotten see my date and they operated at this job it's been awesome Amazon Sir John was a highly sought-after commodity same as the other another company went out of business that was called him so that's a baby's that all stars worked out that's good that's good to have a job turns over how about to you how did you get into it uh four five five stories not theirs inside you see as mostly on the brought those dirty started up front that's been in Mississippi I lived in Texas for it it's bright here selves in Texas as well I think things through actually plea for an air so seeing was sponsored by Reverend President dates of birth for a few years and his terminus and in a Stearman Africa right and and then went from there to an anti Narcotics program down in Colombia flew on for about thirteen years just short of thirteen years in the wheeled version of 802 as well and we were using using the air tractor wheel Tyrian only Texas to to kill the coca crop that they used to make cocaine crack with down there and and so and a lot of firefighting along the way too and and I got out of that in 2014 full time and I've been doing mostly mostly firefighting full time since then and second this is our coming up on our second season here with Thomas a cool man you guys go all over you spend Monterey or whatever in Alaska and California in Washington Texas well actually be like start our season in my air pool in a Minnesota and then I usually sometimes it might make a couple airplanes go to to Alaska they're there for a couple months and then as the season up there it gets like busy to order more airplanes so George I went up there in June as well but this year and I got back down to the lower 48 on August 9th timeframe so I usually run through the mid to late September we I guess we have done one California short contract it never flew on actual fire there but that's like one state that we haven't we it's a pending tattoo we stay busy most of the other places between so our focus I guess we start off is our bread and butter contract at the beginning of the season is Minnesota and then swinging up through Alaska and back down to the Pacific Northwest and my main Lane Washington a lot Idaho and Montana as well but so we concentrate on some of those areas that have a lot of water but she goes gosh she went because when you and Steve went to Nevada last you didn't work we the first fire bosses drops in on the battle last year too so yeah we're trying to expand the like program so now we're here on my Texas filing so it's really can they be look long be next it could be well turkeys live in Houston so you're not that far from home relatively speaking Texas too far to drive home for a weekend yeah but definitely can go home on the weekends it's a lot easier to go home on the weekends and learn my days off we actually work a 12 day schedule and then we have two days off after that so 12 and 2 and so yeah we can go home and hopefully go go go go get my Stearman this time when I'm off bring back and we're gonna be up here now that'll be cool that'd be cool we're not new generator unit I live near a dendron so just about hour south of Denver out rural area of Colorado at an airport actually oh you know yeah awesome I like that yeah yeah y'all know I live in an airport - yeah well tell me about that to me this the the real kicker I mean this is an amphib so no annan it on floats on the water on there on the surface is one thing and that's cool but what's really cool about this airplane you know the scoops right tell me about that tell me about how how do you set up the landing on the water and go through the whole thing cause I imagine you get the drag and then when you open the gates okay let me unplug here and I'll go up and operate the scoops and you can actually video okay that'd work yeah that'd be great you know Oh kind of basically put it down there all right tell me how the how the scoops work and how the whole the whole thing but I'm just fascinated with the whole idea of hitting the water open those scoops because I can imagine you get a huge pitch down moment but then when you start ahead and wait to it you got to put power to it how does all right I did ride horses a little bit along the way when I was young there a couple of times that I got got thrown from a horse when I was a kid and there's a certain point where you feel that horse kind of tighten up and get ready to get ready to swing swing yet that's about what it does when you when you dropped us legs it kind of it kind of ducks a little bit and your and then your your on the water stick back throttle full forward sticks in and and scoops out and there's a real timing issue right there where the powers coming in the scoops are going down starting to create some drag so if you don't if the scoops don't deploy fast enough and the power comes in too fast you can get yourself back up out of the water in a in a compromising situation that you don't want to be in and if you if power doesn't come back in fast enough and you still have enough inertia to throw some from water in there then you may get bogged down it's hard to get back up on step you're in a situation you've probably seen the video of the of the gavotte that ends up digging the proper in in a kind of a few ever seen is I think I've seen there's no fire boss video where the guys and what he ends up having is some he's in the water with partial load and the airplanes not certified to float you know it only floats the the flood is only flow to an empty airplane or an empty hopper so so if you have a full load or partial load it's it's sitting way low into the in the water so so anyway when it when you're that there's a real timing issue on the scooping and getting that power forward stick back scoops deployed and start getting water coming into the airplane and get some inertia back and not giving up to up too much in our shows you're starting that scoop and then there you're you're loading approximately 6,700 pounds of water in about 15 seconds it's about a three thousand gallon minute rate so so you can imagine that the water is going in up at the top up there so the the the moment the mass velocity and inertia and everything that's happening in there is throwing the airplane around pretty good so it you you have to you have to be very you have to positively control the airplane you can't let it do anything it wants to and it tends to want to get into an oscillation and it I mean it gets to really bucket if you don't really you know watch sometimes it'll do it whether you watch it or not yeah and so it just comes down to like an airplane do what you wanted to do that's where a lot of the Stearman know Stearman training comes in and not letting that airplane making it do what you wanted to but letting it do what it wants to do because I definitely do something you don't want it to do I know what you're saying that's determined because my dad he taught me how to fly Stearman and he just you fly the airplane don't let the airplane fly use this airplane with water in sixty seven hundred pounds in 15 seconds is the that's the prime example of that let's ask me like a perishable skill how many scoops and drops did you do this mark that's it that's the really what is what is so fun about the airplane and what keeps me interested in it and what keeps me going out on the road when I when that's that's kind of a hard part I say I fight fires for free of fly the fire bus for free I get paid to be out on the road for six months in the life of year but but it's such a challenge even for somebody that I've been flying professionally for over 25 years and it's still a challenge to me in the fire boss especially getting just getting a load and in fact the the skill it takes to fight fire is is a whole other skills to different completely different skills and but like as in Alaska we were we were scooping from some really small lakes and and you'd fly over that Lake and and you're so far from anything and say I guess I think we could probably scoop that like let's go give it a try so so one of the things we switch out leading every day and somebody go down and sit on the lake you make a pass across the lake there and see how deep it is and the guy from above you looks down and watches the watches and see if you're kicking up any mud cuz you don't know how did you know those things aren't survey yeah okay it looks looks deep enough then we tried to try to scoop it and see if it'll stupid and if you have a it's long enough and fortunately in the in the fireball sire say we have a kind of a trump card when it comes to those kind of performance issues is that we can if it's not working we can select the logo and this is didn't work that's dump it just amore else maybe no one said unique about the fire boss tanker base you and fly for path of the fire and drop it cruise back man you know a load we like to carry about doing half hours of fuel on board once we take off from any Airport we go to work really constantly working when you eat it we're stupid we're dropping back water to this constant back force you get a really short cycle time between the scoop and the voters out there so it's a very busy job that's the challenge and it makes it but keeps it fun right keeps on and any time any time you go somewhere and and and there we I guess the firefighting time around for its some structures threatened but anytime you go somewhere and you and you make sure that somebody's house is still there at the end of the day you know aside from being a lot of fun that's super rewarding is nothing like that feeling and there's a little something different between a scooper and a single-engine seat who's dropping retardant as you drop water you're suppressing the fire you're actually dropping on the fire itself instead of dropping next to the fire trying to shape where it goes right so you guys could put fires out not just too late depending on how small it's hard to actually it's very rare to actually put a fire out but but a fire bus is is capable especially for close to some close to a water source we're capable of handing the ground guys back some that they could easily deal with and I've been so surprised I flew the wheel version I've been carded in the real world version since 2004 and I think I've had more effect real effect on fire in the last two seasons I've been flying the fire Boston the whole rest of the time that I've flown so it's it's a totally different tactic like you say that they're the most of the other other aircraft or are using retardant and they're building they're building a line they're trying to corral a fire and and with us like say we're going straight straight to it straight on it and in putting water on fire but wet stuff on hot stuff like I love to time there's a it's satisfying and we like work for the crown guys right so well yeah you guys regret you your support for ground guys anyway so what's more fun dropping bombs to do that or water I guess I pissed the military flying this is the next best thing there's the only job in the world I think well the good thing is nobody shooting and this [Laughter] crazy people yeah I got shot at a lot well that's mighty cool oh I was when you guys were flying I googled and I said there's a hundred that they made under car world today exactly a little hundred right exactly enough and we have we have twelve and air spray s five right or is it it's less than 20 in the United States so there's Marvin are going overseas than there they're here yeah but they're spread out all over the world Spain Spain has a significant number they're like 20 and and and Canada has several but they're they're in the double digits Croatia Croatia has some and several other European country sees them and I've got a couple Israel's got a couple and Australia runs four or five interesting so they're they're in the air frame is really proven itself around the world anywhere there's there's any water at all and it's just it's a it's an amazing airplane it amazes me every day or the more I fly it the more I or I think of it that's been awesome to fly one more time my crown fire perpetually have have one Randy work around you know for years yeah no you don't want to talk well hey thanks for talking to me and showing me the airplane it was a sure appreciation it was great to see you guys fly thanks for coming yeah thanks for keeping to take care of my house it doesn't burn thing that's a that's our that's what we like doing they're all there well there you have it there was the fire boss was I tell you what it really looks like a hoot to fly probably the most fun you can have short of dropping bombs but hey that's just me so I hope you enjoyed the video and learned something about what it's like to fly the not only the fire boss and do the scooping and dropping it on fire but a little bit about what the life is as a pilot and how you can get to be a fire boss pilot and fight fires it's a pretty cool job you got spend a little bit of time on the road but you get to do some pretty cool stuff so if you like video thanks for watching and hit subscribe and the bell if you want to get notifications for next time I appreciate it we'll see you next time on fly wire

Channel: FlyWire- scott perdue

Views: 43,484

Rating: 4.8957477 out of 5

Keywords: FlyWire, aerial firefighting, air tractor, water bomber, single engine air tanker, air tractor at-802 (aircraft model), fire aviation, water drop, forest fire, aerial firefighting cockpit, aerial firefighting pilot, aerial firefighting training, single engine air tanker training, single engine air tanker pilot jobs, fire boss plane, fire boss air tractor, fire boss 802, air tractor start up, pilot, pilot vlog, water scooper, fire boss, pilot life, pilot vlogs youtube

Id: obS7BKOTkdI

Length: 18min 53sec (1133 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 27 2019