N754PR From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 6272 times:
I'm told the aircraft was in HKG yesterday (15th) can anyone explain why? Is it on the was down to OZ for their fire season..... can it still be used as a normal freighter?
UPS707 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 354 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 6245 times:
So that's where it went I'm pretty sure it's working as a freighter now. It ferried up to MHR this past weekend (managed to get a couple shots of it), then went over to Travis AFB for what I'm guessing was a military haul since most of the USAF civilian contracts stage at MHR before and after visiting SUU. It sure was interesting seeing that bright red tail attached to an Evergreen fuselage
DesertFlyer From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 474 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 6236 times:
So weird... we just saw it here in Arizona a couple weeks ago doing some test drops. What an amazing plane!
Gatorman96 From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 693 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 6120 times:
Are you sure it is the tanker version? They also fly three other 747's used for cargo and passenger ops.
UPS707 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 354 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 6109 times:
Quoting Gatorman96 (Reply 4): Are you sure it is the tanker version? They also fly three other 747's used for cargo and passenger ops.
Not sure if 470 is the one that made it to HKG, but I can say for certain that's the one I saw at MHR headed for SUU and it went on to RJTY ( http://flightaware.com/live/flight/EIA2508 ), so I guess HKG is possible.
Gatorman96 From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 693 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 6108 times:
Quoting UPS707 (Reply 6): so I guess HKG is possible.
That pic definitely answers my question. Evergreen's website makes the liveries of the cargo version and the tanker almost indentical. I guess it is pretty hard to mistake the cargo version for the tanker. Nice pic by the way. Thanks for the info
UPS707 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 354 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 6105 times:
Quoting Gatorman96 (Reply 7): Evergreen's website makes the liveries of the cargo version and the tanker almost indentical. I guess it is pretty hard to mistake the cargo version for the tanker. Nice pic by the way.
It's definately one for the private collection The lighting was crappy, it was cloudy and 7am, but you never know when the EIA birds are going to leave, so I snagged the pic while I could. Sure enough it was gone when I got off work. That tail is recent since all the pics here show the traditional livery. That tail is actually what made me go see what the heck was visiting! I was driving the south side of the field and noticed the red tail on what I could swear was an EIA body and had to drive around to the closer side to see what it was. Being around MHR is fun if you like the cargo birds. We get the normal DHL/ABX and UPS stuff, then the odd Evergreen, Atlas, Polar or Kalitta 747s staging for Travis. Got a couple of surprises earlier this year when Gemini brought us a couple of DC10s on their way to Travis. Now if I could just catch them on their way in or out, that would be awesome
FlyinTLow From Germany, joined Oct 2004, 501 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 6105 times:
Really interesting. Wasn't that plane down in MZJ the past weeks? I think I saw it take off Saturday if I remember correctly. Was on the ground though, so I couldn't say for sure...
TrevD From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 327 posts, RR: 3 Reply 10, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 6105 times:
Can't help but wonder if this has turned out to be a failure as a water bomber for Evergreen. Just came through the summer forest fire season in the US and the a/c has not been used in that role.
If the a/c is now down in HKG hauling freight again, may be that that EVR has declared defeat and returned the a/c to use as a freighter.
Arffguy From United States of America, joined Sep 2005, 154 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 6105 times:
I got on board N477EV (the one in back) and talked to the mechanic. N470EV has been converted back to ordinary cargo configuration for the holiday rush. The water tanks and four spray nozzles have been removed. The nozzle holes have been plugged with flat plates. The mechanic says its not that big of a deal. He also stated that N477EV is the next to be converted to be a water bomber but that it will occur sometime in 2007. He also said that he himself (working for Evergreen) is setting up to do contract work with the 747LCF project. Interesting there are no pictures on Anet yet with the red tail and the U.S. Forest Service tanker number. They are still trying to decide where to station the tankers during fire season in the U.S. The reason it wasn't used for fires is that the FAA just very recently granted the Supplemental Type Certificate for the mods.
Wjcandee From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 4553 posts, RR: 17 Reply 14, posted (6 years 6 months 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 6105 times:
If anybody wanted confirmation: Yes, the tank system is removeable; it's essentially on pallets. That way, while the Fire-O-Crats continue to screw around with how to use the aircraft, Evergreen can get some revenue from the thing. And thank Goodness Evergreen was smart enought to do that. Now that they have the STC, the issue is Tanker Board approval and contracting.
The DC10 Tanker's owners have been bitching recently that they are going to have to throw in the towel pretty soon if they don't get more than a "call when needed" contract from somebody, pointing out that they have to pay rent on the aircraft every month. Evergreen's ability to use their 747 as a freighter when not needed as a tanker obviates that concern.
Thanks for the photo with the red tail. Very cool!!!!
MCOflyer From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 8552 posts, RR: 14 Reply 16, posted (6 years 6 months 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 6105 times:
Evergreen won't give up. If they are converting 477 into firebomber stats it tells me somethings about to happen. ( contract, etc)
Wjcandee From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 4553 posts, RR: 17 Reply 18, posted (6 years 6 months 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 6105 times:
Quoting HiJazzey (Reply 17): Excuse my ignorance on this matter, but how suitable are these planes for fire fighting? don't you need to fly low and slow when water bombing?
Your actual question is discussed in the FAQ at that site. There are also some videos of water drops, etc. It's cool. The DC10 tanker, which uses a less-sophisticated drop system, was recently used in some California wildfires, and by all accounts did a good job, surprising even the incident commanders with how well it did. No reason to think that the Evergreen version will be anything but more effective, given that it holds twice as much retardant as the DC10.
PS Although Evergreen's web site doesn't report that they have now received their STC, they did indeed get it near the end of October.
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I'm pretty sure it's working as a freighter now. It ferried up to MHR this past weekend (managed to get a couple shots of it), then went over to Travis AFB for what I'm guessing was a military haul since most of the USAF civilian contracts stage at MHR before and after visiting SUU. It sure was interesting seeing that bright red tail attached to an Evergreen fuselage 
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