I can see where a craft of that size would work on a flatlands fire, but I
doubt it would do any good or be able to maneuver in the valleys and hills
where these fires were.

Steve R. (MAFFS unit mechanic & got his car coverd in ash from the fires)


"Vicente Vazquez" wrote in message
...
Just read this in a Brazilian Aviation Magazine's website. Absolute nonsense
IMHO...
Of course, the editor is known for his preference for russian aircraft. ;-)
Of course he has the right to have his opinion and prefereces, but I guess
some good sense might help a bit...

For those who can understand Portuguese (or even Spanish) go to
http://www.revistaasas.com.br - Notícias - "Avião russo poderia ter salvo
a Califórnia de incêndios"

My English ain't so good, so forgive me for my poor translation:
Russian Aircraft could have saved California from fires
Nov 15th 2003

The Ilyushin Il-76TD Firefighter aircraft is substantially larger than the
aerial firefighting equipment used by the USA. With a payload of around
42.000 liters of water, this gigantic aircraft was available for helping in
fighting the recente fires that devastated California, and was refused by
the US authorities. A total of 20 lives were lost, 2.800 homes were
destroyed and thousands of acres of land were reduced to ashes. Thought the
Il-76 was repetitively offered by the government of the Russian Federation,
american authorities refused it, in part, because it would "drop too much
water".

The WorldNetDaily quoted congessmen Dana Rohrabacher and Curt Weldon as
having said, during a press conference, that the Russina Government offered
the plane many times to the US. It was refused, among other reasons, for
being too expensive to operate (an unjustified reason), for being unable to
deliver its load while on a "descendent path" (translation??) or for
dropping too much water.

It's a true fact that the Il-76 was never allowed to be tested / make a
demonstration in the US, despite the fact that its huge capacity speaks for
itself - in 10 seconds it can put away the fire in an area 1Km long. The few
that argued in favor of the Il-76 being allowed to at least show its
capabiliteis were labelled as "fanatics".

Testado at the four corners of the world, the Il-76 can deliver a "layer"
(translation??) of water from 100 meters altitude at a speed of 151knots,
without the need of using chemical agents to help extinguishing the fires.
It has a range of 8.000km and can take off from unpaved short runways.

Once again we see a "proteccionism" of American authorities that goes beyond
the realms of logic and challenges good sense, showing the existence of an
unefficient administration, controlled by "grupos de pressão"**, that rather
see its citizen dying than admiting that Russia has an aircraft that could
have done a better job than its American counterparts.

** "Grupos de Pressão": dunno how to translate this. It's something like
"political groups inside the government that have enough power to influence
decisions according to political interests".