[EGPWS]

``It was apparent that no effective mechanism currently exists to ensure the continuing airworthinesss of these firefighting aircraft,'' the report said.

That being the case they have decided wisely.

Contiued airworthiness MUST be maintained, lest the aircraft be patched together with auto parts and radio shack components and crews would be flying on more "prayer" than "wing".

[tertiary01]

I guess it's getting to be like everything else... if we can't have 100% perfection, 100% of the time then we won't do it at all.

[Stoat]

Of course you're right, but the point here is that it's been the negligence of the U.S. Forest service throughout the past several decades that has allowed this situation to come to pass.
Naturally, nobody here is advocating the use of unsafe aircraft. The point here is that a history of negligence, poor planning, and buckling under the pressure of radical environmentalist demands has created this unacceptable situation, where we are now even more under-served than before.

[HiTech RedNeck]

One would think the insurance companies getting "burned" by these wildfires would be tickled to pitch in to keep these craft in good shape. And they might get good advertising that way... here comes the Allstate plane, here comes the Mutual of Omaha....

[cartoonistx]

My son, who is a Helitack wildland fire fighter for the USFS out of Ramona,Ca., has been informed that their group will be doing the "heavy lifting" in the San Diego area this year because of the Airtanker groundings. I was allowed to climb aboard one of those flying dinosaurs last year when we visited his airbase after the Cedar fire in October. Talk about being held together with bailing wire! That DC4 was practically shedding rivets as we stood there.