Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Beriev Be-200.


This one is serving as a water-bomber for firefighting.

4 comments:

Old NFO said...

Nice flying to keep it exactly on the step and still get the water!

BadTux said...

Purpose built as a water bomber, unlike the various ragtag old planes that we fly here in the USA. Would make sense to buy a bunch of them for handling all these wildfires we're having out here in the West, but ain't happenin'. Russia, y'know. Not Invented Here. And so forth.

Comrade Misfit said...

They could buy some CL-215Ts, but the same "not made in 'Murrica" issue exists.

BadTux said...

The Be-200 will hold twice as much water as the Bombardier 415 (the CL-215T you were referring to). But something has to be done because the rag-tag collection of antiques that they're using for water bombing here in California are grounded more often than they're flyable. The only water bomber that Cal-Fire has with the capacity of the Be-200 is a 40 year old DC-10. It can't use rugged airstrips, it can't refill from lakes, and otherwise is nowhere near as capable as a purpose-built water bomber.

I suppose part of the problem is funding. Cal-Fire basically has been "gifted" with most of their aircraft after their service life was over with the military or after being phased out for civilian use due to noise and fuel economy issues (the DC-10). Buying a new fleet of water bombers would cost money that could be used to buy another F-35. Guess we need that single F-35 more than we need that fleet of water bombers that, like, are actually flyable most of the time. SIGH!