June 27, 2008
Air National Guard MAFFS C-130's To The Fires
Military sends four National Guard MAFFS C-130's!
"The aircraft are a part of the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing based at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
The aircraft with nearly 50 North Carolina guardmembers are conducting airborne firefighting missions from a staging area near Sacramento, Calif. Two C-130s carry modular airborne fire fighting systems (MAFFS).
Since 1974, MAFFS has saved land, lives and property from wild land fires in the United States and abroad. MAFFS is only activated when all other air tanker resources are committed.
The MAFFS mission equips C-130s with a firefighting apparatus that is loaded into the aircraft’s cargo area. The MAFFS unit itself is a series of pressurized tanks that hold 3,000 gallons of flame-retardant liquid.
Directed by ground crews, and led to the fire site by a U.S. Forest service lead plane, MAFFS aircraft drop retardant along the leading edge of a fire to block the spread of flames.
The North Carolina contingent is operating two C-130s equipped with MAFFS modules. Two other C-130s are transporting equipment and personnel."
Photo credit Wyoming Air National Guard.
.
"The aircraft are a part of the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing based at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
The aircraft with nearly 50 North Carolina guardmembers are conducting airborne firefighting missions from a staging area near Sacramento, Calif. Two C-130s carry modular airborne fire fighting systems (MAFFS).
Since 1974, MAFFS has saved land, lives and property from wild land fires in the United States and abroad. MAFFS is only activated when all other air tanker resources are committed.
The MAFFS mission equips C-130s with a firefighting apparatus that is loaded into the aircraft’s cargo area. The MAFFS unit itself is a series of pressurized tanks that hold 3,000 gallons of flame-retardant liquid.
Directed by ground crews, and led to the fire site by a U.S. Forest service lead plane, MAFFS aircraft drop retardant along the leading edge of a fire to block the spread of flames.
The North Carolina contingent is operating two C-130s equipped with MAFFS modules. Two other C-130s are transporting equipment and personnel."
Photo credit Wyoming Air National Guard.
.
Labels: California Firestorm 2008