During the Notre Dame fire, President Donny Scheissdipff made a characteristically boneheaded suggestion about using water bombers. Somebody in France took the time to answer publicly, explaining why that wouldn’t work; probably other people had had the same idea; perhaps it was worth someone’s time to post a reply.
But even a dolt can have the germ of an idea. I once had the luck, quite a few years ago, to see a Sikorsky Skycrane making trial runs over the California coast, filling its tank at sea and then dumping water onshore. This technique, using the Skycrane and other copters, works well against brush and forest fires.
Could firefighting helicopters be used against structural fires? The advantage of a copter is its ability to hover. I don’t think hovering is much used against wildfires, where wide coverage is important, but against a more circumscribed blaze in a building, it might be feasible; I leave that question to the chopper pilots to answer.
Hovering over a burning Notre Dame while dumping water would have to be done from just the right altitude: low enough to cool and damp flames, but high enough for rotor wash to disperse the water and prevent battering of the structure; the method for releasing the water might have to be adapted to that specialized purpose. Updraft from the fire would be a serious factor, possibly defeating a first application, and also threatening the aircraft. Again, I leave practical evaluation to the pilots who would have to fly such a mission.
It’s wonderful to think of relays of copters attacking that heart-breaking fire with water gulped seconds before from the Seine. Would it be possible?
But even a dolt can have the germ of an idea. I once had the luck, quite a few years ago, to see a Sikorsky Skycrane making trial runs over the California coast, filling its tank at sea and then dumping water onshore. This technique, using the Skycrane and other copters, works well against brush and forest fires.
Could firefighting helicopters be used against structural fires? The advantage of a copter is its ability to hover. I don’t think hovering is much used against wildfires, where wide coverage is important, but against a more circumscribed blaze in a building, it might be feasible; I leave that question to the chopper pilots to answer.
Hovering over a burning Notre Dame while dumping water would have to be done from just the right altitude: low enough to cool and damp flames, but high enough for rotor wash to disperse the water and prevent battering of the structure; the method for releasing the water might have to be adapted to that specialized purpose. Updraft from the fire would be a serious factor, possibly defeating a first application, and also threatening the aircraft. Again, I leave practical evaluation to the pilots who would have to fly such a mission.
It’s wonderful to think of relays of copters attacking that heart-breaking fire with water gulped seconds before from the Seine. Would it be possible?
via International Skeptics Forum http://bit.ly/2UELKCb
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