User:Californiawildfires

User:Californiawildfires

CAN AIRSHIPS BECOME FIREFIGHTING AIRCRAFT ?
The fires which occur in California from around September to December are unique in that a shift of predominate winds brings warm air from inland. As these winds pass through the coastal mountain ranges they can be compressed causing high wind speeds. A news station said this compressing is like putting your finger over the end of a water hose, the water is sped up as it exits the hose. When a fire starts in these areas it can be blown downwind with such intensity that no firefighters or their equipment can be safely put in the fires path. Methods that can be used to control the fire include water dropping aircraft and control lines. However, these methods are not always enough to overcome the wind driven fires momentum. The cost in lives to civilians and firefighters over the years has been staggering on a level unmatched anywhere in the world. It has become an annual period of destruction, as California awaits these "Santa Ana" winds (a name commonly given to describe the westerly wind direction) to arrive and a fire to start. These fires have occurred annually for years, however today many thousands of homes are now built where once was brush and trees. This trend of building will understandably continue as more people and homes expand beyond the urban areas. New building codes have been enacted and greenbelts have been required around some neighborhoods, these proactive measures do help. Many fire departments in this state invest heavily in training and equipping for these events, thousands of fire engines from across California and beyond can literally be mobilized within hours of a major fire outbreak. The firefighting techniques used in California in learning to fight these fires have been adopted by other fire authorities around the country. The management system used nationwide in any large scale event (such as Hurricane Katrina) was developed in California. Yet with all our advances we still succumb to the fury of Mother Nature's combination of wind and fire. Earlier I mentioned that water dropping aircraft are used in fighting these fires, these aircraft are either helicopters or airplanes. They are designed and piloted to approach the fire from above the blowtorch effect that exist in front of these fires at and above ground level. These aircraft have saved numerous lives and hundreds of millions of dollars in property. A limitation of any aircraft is it's capacity to carry water or fire retardant, they must refill after delivering their load on the fire. Helicopters have an advantage in that they can travel to a nearby body of water such as a lake, river, or to nearby fire engines to reload. This enables them to have a shorter turnaround time as compared to airplanes which must return to a airfield to land, reload and take off thus extending their turnaround time. These airfields can be a hundred miles or more away from the fire. Large airplanes have an advantage in that they can carry relatively large amounts of water, a Boeing jetliner was even recently converted for firefighting purposes with a capacity of approx. 24,000 gallons. The annual cost to contain and extinguish the fires is also staggering, upwards of 300 million dollars this year since July 1. Can the fire service improve on their aircraft delivery system by developing a heavy lift airship? HEAVY LIFT AIRSHIPS have been in development here and in Europe for many years. A D.A.R.P.A. project (the goverment agency that developed the stealth aircraft) recently built and flew a scaled version of a heavy cargo airship called the P-791 in Palmdale California. Unfortunately I read that the project was cancelled, possibly due to lack of interest or funding. Aviation Week magazine wrote about this airship on Feb. 5, 2006, the article can be viewed by entering P-791 in Wikipedia search, then scroll to external link at the bottom of the page and click on P-791 Aviation Week. The article states that the possible load capacity of the proposed airship to be 1 to 1.2 million pounds, to equate this pound amount to water capacity would be over 120,000 gallons of water. By comparison the largest current aircraft carries around 24,000 gallons, other smaller aircraft can carry around 12,000 gallons. There are numerous current difficulties with operating airships, these include wind, landing facilities and others which the P-791 was addressing. An airship for use to fight wind driven wildfires may face too many difficulties technologically but it is one reason I am writing this article. Listed below are the difficulties an airship would have to overcome, I am sure there are others which I will miss so please speak your concerns. I also include the benefits of an airship to fight fires and it's other potential uses.

Difficulties and Possible Solutions of Operating an Airship as a Firefighting Aircraft.

1. High winds -           Winds of 70 mph and above are possible during these fires. A airship has a very large profile for which any wind will act upon. Possible Solutions -A. Operate at a altitude above the high winds. Can the water be dropped from this higher altitude and still be effective on the fire below? This would require that the load be dropped from upwind and carried into the fire by the wind. B. A design that incorporates less wind resistance and creates lift. This is a major feature of the P-791, it has a triple lobe exterior shape and turbo fans for lift/propulsion. These capabilities may allow the airship to operate in the same proximity to the fire as current aircraft.

2. Heat from Fire -     The fire's heat will effect the airships structure and flight abilities. Possible Solution - A.  Use of heat resistant materials and water spray to cool exposed surfaces. B. Operate from a higher altitude.

3. Smoke-                   Smoke can enter and effect the airships engines. Possible Solution- Current aircraft operate in these conditions, appears not to be a serious obstacle.

4 Visibility -                Smoke can decrease or eliminate visibility for pilots. Possible Solution- Current technology including F.L.I.R., Terrain Following Radar among others will probably eliminate this problem.

5. Ballast Control-     As an airship releases it's load of water it becomes more buoyant, this will cause the airship to rise upward. This releasing of it's load while in flight will need to be accounted for. Possible Solution- Don't Know

Please add any comments or other issues an airship may encounter, I sure that airships have been thought of to be used in this way so any comments will be useful. Below are listed the advantages a firefighting airship would appear to have as compared to conventional firefighting aircraft.

1. Capacity-              This is it's main advantage, the more water you can deliver on the fire will reduce it's size. The fire service refers to this as putting the G.P.M.'s on the B.T.U.'s. Meaning more Gallons Per Minute of water applied to a fire will overcome the British Thermal Units of what is burning.