Student Pilot

Peter Blewet flying then? Les cooper?

I used to goen stroll through Marshals hangar when I got to visit Bankstown (father and uncle used to work for Air Ag at Hangar 17, I worked for Tom at a much later date) as a kid, Spitfire x2, 109, KI 43 and all sorts of machinery. There was a ground trainer with small wings on it I thought would have been great. In those days a kid could walk through a hangar and nobody would bat an eye.

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CAC had plans for an AG conversion of Winjeels when they left service. They proposed PT6 power and a forward cockpit with the hopper over the wing behind the pilot. Never got passed the planning stage, I have seen a drawing, it looked workable.

I think the Disney one was based on a 402 Air Tractor

Kiwi's have a good claim with what seems credible information that a Kiwi flew before the Wrights as well.

If using retardant the SG is slightly heavier than water. A Fireboss normally doesn't usually carry a full load either from the water or off land, the floats are a significant dint in performance compared to a wheeled 802. Fuel load is 1400 litres plus a 3000L hopper load, the empty weight for a wheeled 802 is around 3000 kg. The only information I could find about the weight of floats is 1000 kg, that seems light as the amphib gear is pretty solid. So just allowing for the weight of the floats the load of a Fireboss would be 2/3 of the wheeled 802. Most new 8's now are fitted with the F version of the PT6-67 which is rated at 1700 SHP, they do go well 😜

I'd rather the Thruster 😜

Years and years of being ignored, hostility, non action and outright incompetence have made one jaded. Talk to most in GA, they are of a similar view. The less I interact with casa the easier life is.

Good luck approaching casa and expecting an answer.......

80% there and 90% to go 🤣 The details take a lot of time to finish a build.

They were called "conventional" gear, you didn't have to be a hairy chested sky god to fly one 😜

Nearly as efficient as the Americans with Iranian flight 655, they had to use two missiles to down the Airbus with 290 souls on board.

Where did you get those statistics? 90%?

I have some old pics of this machine I took with a box Brownie, it visited Armidale. An impressive machine up close. In the olden days you could walk up to any machine parked at any airfield and have a close look and have a yarn to the pilot.