Flying boats aid effort to stop Rhea wildfires
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April 22, 2018
Jason Robinson, a pilot with Aeroflite of Spokane, Washington, stands before one of the flying boats used to drop thousands of gallons on wildfires in Dewey County this week. Photo by Bob Fisher The close-up shows the small vent the plane uses to scoop up 1,621 gallons of lake water in about 12 seconds.
"We catch a lot of bugs at our altitude," said pilot Jason Robinson, pointing to the insect-spattered leading edges of the wings of the huge flying boat. The craft, one of three that gained fame dropping water on the huge Rhea wildfires this week, has been based at the old Clinton-Sherman air base at the Oklahoma Space Port at Burns Flat.
The plane, one of only four in the U.S., is a Bombardier CL-415, specially built for fighting fires, and flown by hand-picked pilots from the Aeroflite company based in Spokane, Washington.
The emergency has seen the three planes log 52 hours in five days, ea...
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