Tuesday, September 30, 2014
A P-3 tale...for Old NFO.
I saw this beauty in August at Thunder Over Michigan and thought of Old NFO.
It's a Lockheed P-3 Orion, probably one of the coolest multi-engined aircraft that I'll never get the chance to fly.
This one is decked out in the colors of Aero Union, but Aero Union doesn't fly them any more. Aero Union had a fleet of eight of these tankers that they used for firefighting, but they lost the Forest Service contract due to safety violations and went out of business.
I happened to find an article about Aero Union's sale of their fleet of P-3s, and this article mentions Tanker 22 here specifically.
Buffalo Airways of Canada reportedly bought it and plans to keep it in service as a firefighting tanker, adding it to their eclectic and historic fleet of passenger and cargo transports that includes Electras (the "civilian" P-3), DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft, and even old Curtis C-46s. I think I'll send them a resume, just for the hell of it. If I can fly a Cessna 172, I can learn to fly one or more of these, I'm thinking.
And how hard could it be to move to Canada? I just gotta learn to quote hockey stats and end every sentence with "eh?" and no one will ever know that I wasn't born there, eh?
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Poutine. Tim Hortons. Beer store. KPH. Toonies. Loonies. Need I go on?
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty hard to move to Canada. I sent my kids up there on student visas for two years. I also hired a Canadian immigration lawyer and paid him six grand to get them resident alien permits. When their student visas expired, they had to leave Canada.
ReplyDeleteI knew a guy who flew P3 Orions. Went to college with him. He started out flying A7 Corsairs off carriers, decided that was not a path to longevity, and crossed over to the Orion. He was in Rota, Spain last I heard of him but that's been about 1983.
I knew quite a few guys who flew Anti-sub patrols in P-2's and P-3's. I caught a hop from Rota, Spain to Brunswick, Maine on one. Long flight.
ReplyDeleteNavy P-3Cs (and an SR-71) were the birds we had on Adak, back in the mid-70s. Beautiful, graceful planes.
ReplyDeleteSR-71 in Alaska? Cool!
DeleteThanks! And they DO strip them completely down, no insulation/sound deadening, remove both EDCs, strip out the O2 never fly higher than 10,000. Anything that is a 'comfort' item is long gone...
ReplyDeleteWatch a couple episodes of "Ice Pilots" and you'll change your tune about wanting to fly for Buffalo. Young man's game, except for the Electra drivers who appear to be crusty old airline retirees.
ReplyDeleteNever seen Ice Pilots, but just to fly one for a bit...if someone else can hack it, so can I.
DeleteWhen you move to Canada, can I have first dibs on the firearms that you won't be able to take with you?
ReplyDeleteDarn. I think I'd better think it out again.
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