In about '94 I stopped by Watts-Woodland airport in Northern California to
visit the Beech dealership. They had 3 or 4 OV-10s in the hangar that they
were under contract to modify for the Forest Service. Apparently the
Forest Service was going to use them as spotting planes for fire
suppression. Don't know if it ever came to anything.

Those are actually owned and maintained by California Dept of Fire and
Forestry, and flown by Dyncorp pilots.

If the DoD releases any aircraft like P-3s and S-3 (which are sorely needed)
out of AMARC to Forest Service for any future firefighting roles, it will
probably be a similar arrangement.




Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter