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Article: The great airtanker debacle. (US Forest Service firefighting airtanker fleet)(includes related articles)
- Article from:
- American Forests
- Article date:
- May 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 American Forests. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The "flight plan" seemed simple: To update an aging airtanker fleet used for firefighting, the Forest Service encouraged some of its contract private airtanker operators to swap their older planes for newer, government excess models through a little-known exchange program. Then things went off course.
The headlines appearing last year in the Los Angeles Times, The Oregonian, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer grabbed my attention like a field of poison-tipped cacti.
I pondered those startling articles, wondering how on earth the United States Forest Service, with its tanned silviculturists, friendly fireside naturalists, and eager ecosystem managers, could ...