How's the view???........

542thruNthru

Well-Known Member
Are they used by Hippies guarding their pot gardens?
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burrheadd

KING Of GIFS
Do they still man them. None of ours is manned anymore. It's all done by spotters in a small plane who can cover 5 times the area one of these towers can. I did that job for 3 springs (fire season) when I first retired but being crammed into a Cessna 172 for 8 hours a day gets old (even though it had its exciting moments and I did learn how to fly doing it).

Flying’s the easy part
Did you learn how to land is the question
 

oldngray

nowhere special
Do they still man them. None of ours is manned anymore. It's all done by spotters in a small plane who can cover 5 times the area one of these towers can. I did that job for 3 springs (fire season) when I first retired but being crammed into a Cessna 172 for 8 hours a day gets old (even though it had its exciting moments and I did learn how to fly doing it).

They switched to planes here too. Most of the old towers eventually got torn down.
 

rod

Retired 23 years
Flying’s the easy part
Did you learn how to land is the question
I have landed (once by myself). NO I don't have a pilots license but I rode with a licensed flight instructor for 8 hours a day and he liked to turn the controls over to me to catch a break every once in awhile. I honestly believe I could land a small plane with no problems at least 3 out of 4 times. :-)
 

oldngray

nowhere special
I have landed (once by myself). NO I don't have a pilots license but I rode with a licensed flight instructor for 8 hours a day and he liked to turn the controls over to me to catch a break every once in awhile. I honestly believe I could land a small plane with no problems at least 3 out of 4 times. :-)
Those Cessnas are pretty much gliders with little motors. Easy to fly and probably almost anybody could land one on a clear day with good weather. At night or in a bad crosswind is a different story.
 

542thruNthru

Well-Known Member
Do they still man them. None of ours is manned anymore. It's all done by spotters in a small plane who can cover 5 times the area one of these towers can. I did that job for 3 springs (fire season) when I first retired but being crammed into a Cessna 172 for 8 hours a day gets old (even though it had its exciting moments and I did learn how to fly doing it).
Yes its done by volunteers. There was a news report about how they are not getting the volunteers like they used to and need them badly.
 

rod

Retired 23 years
Those Cessnas are pretty much gliders with little motors. Easy to fly and probably almost anybody could land one on a clear day with good weather. At night or in a bad crosswind is a different story.
We flew out of a little grass strip that usually always had a cross wind. We did have a few "exciting " moments. We usually flew at about a thousand to two thousand feet unless we were working a fire--then it was MUCH less until the fire bombers got there. Dispatch always chased us out of the area buy the time the bombers showed up. If they were just using helicopters for water drops we got to stick around and fly above. I spent many an hour flying around in a tight circle above a fire. Dispatch by the way was my wife. She organized the teams responding to a fire. I think she like bossing me around.
 
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