Boeing 747 in firefight

Agency

June 02, 2006

A US company has demonstrated to local officials how the Boeing 747 jet it modified to carry water would revolutionise the way fires are doused from the air.

The plane, a giant 747-200 cargo dubbed the Evergreen Supertanker, was stripped of its seats and modified to carry more than 75,000 litres of water.

The supertanker carries more than seven times the load of the Lockheed P-3 Orion aerial water bombers used in aerial firefighting, according to the manufacturers, Evergreen International Airlines Inc.

The plane is equipped with four 40cm nozzles to release the liquid, instead of the trapdoor used in the Orions.

This would allow the aircraft to make multiple drops on different fires in a single mission, said Danny Clisham, one of the pilots who has worked on the prototype for more than three years.

"We can refill and refuel in 37 minutes," Clisham said. He added that the 75,000-litre payload "is still way below the maximum load of that plane".

The plane can also disperse fire retardant under high pressure or drop the retardant at the speed of falling rain.

The plane must still be approved by federal aviation authorities and US Forest Service authorities.