100ft Posted May 7, 2004 Report Posted May 7, 2004 Yesterday I was flipping past Discovery channel and on Daily Planet there was a 5 minute story on the new technology 'Badger' belly tank. This item was being tested in BC by a Tundra medium and apparently suceeds in mimizing difusion of the dropped load on its way to the surface. Essentially it is designed to drop the load more like a 300 gal water balloon than the traditional tapered drop leaving the trail of mist (like a meteor) behind and detracting from the main drop. My question here: Is it not somewhat beneficial to have some degree of tapered drop to offer some fencing effect to an advancing fire or is this new paradigm far and away better than the old method? The commentator described this advanced feature as the 'secret weapon' of forest fire fighting about to be unleased. A flare drop would also seem to accomplish this effect anyway; wouldn't it? One impressive feature mentioned though was the 10 gal/sec fill rate for this tank. Teach me. Quote
Guest sharky Posted May 7, 2004 Report Posted May 7, 2004 Ya, that seemed quite interesting. The designer stated that the traditional tapered drop, with all the mist, only put about 60% of the water on the ground, whereas their product (with full length dump doors)released all 300 gal in 1 second into what he called a 'giant raindrop' What's the timeline like on getting something like that approved? What would some of the hoops and hurdles be? Quote
Guest graunch1 Posted May 9, 2004 Report Posted May 9, 2004 The tank is designed by Tower Aerospace in YYC as the owner was shown in that clip. I was channel surfing and saw his face long enough to think " hey I know him". Followed quickly by: "I know him, and he has been trying to get this tank system up and running for a while". He has had a running battle with TC ever since he started his company years ago so I don't know how long this project toook. Tower has also built some fuel tanks for DnD Helis. Quote
Guest graunch1 Posted May 10, 2004 Report Posted May 10, 2004 don't know enough about it to say what it is called Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.