Lovellette, G. 2019. Induced wind from fixed-wing aircraft during fire suppression operations. 1751 2304P. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Technology and Development Program. 6 p.
Before U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Technology and Development Program (NTDP) staff began drop tests with the 747 and DC-10 airtankers, members of the wildland firefighting community raised concerns about potential safety issues the aircraft could create during fire suppression operations. In particular, the community wanted to know about the occurrence and magnitude of turbulence generated by the aircraft and how this turbulence might affect fire activity on the ground.
This tech tip describes methods used by NTDP staff to collect wind data-specifically, wind turbulence-at or near ground level. It includes results from the 747 and DC-10 drop tests as well as results from drop tests of smaller airtankers.
Keywords: 747 airtankers, DC-10 airtankers, drop tests, large airtankers, LATs, single-engine airtankers, SEATs, turbulence, very large airtankers, VLATs, wingtip vortices, wildfires, wildland fires
These files are best for printing:
View low resolution PDF (10600 kb)
View high resolution PDF (10600 kb)
If you experience problems using the higher resolution PDF file, use the lower resolution PDF files if they are listed.
Click the icon to download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
