A fire plane. History and modernity

Large-scale fires, both natural andanthropogenic origin, pose a serious threat to the country's forest resources, flora and fauna, the ecology in general, and often bear an immediate threat to human life safety. The main function of fire aviation is the timely detection, localization and rapid elimination of fires in large areas.

Winged fighter. Start

The first test flights to neutralize the fireIn the summer of 1932, the U-2 biplane was made in the Shatura Forestry, Moscow Region. Bombs with a special chemical composition were dropped on the fires. Also, the first fire-fighting aircraft was equipped with a 200-liter tank, from which a special solution was sprayed, creating barrier strips preventing the spread of fire. The results were unsatisfactory, but the main directions of the development of aviation fire-fighting technology were determined.

Fire aviation of the USSR

More than half a century have been actively exploited formonitoring of fire situation, delivery of people and cargoes various modifications of the multifunctional aircraft AN-2. In 1964, a specialized model was developed-the fire-fighting aircraft AN-2P capable of delivering 1240 liters of water solution to the fires in the tanks.

In the late 80-ies the forest fire squadronreplenished with planes Antonov Design Bureau, equipped with external water-filling devices with a capacity of 2 tons. The AN-26P had two such tanks, AN-32P-four. Aircraft AN-32P FAIRKILLER especially distinguished themselves in the elimination of fires in the Crimea (1993) and Portugal (1994).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of an airmobile group in the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia in 1994, one more fireplane IL-76TD became operational.

Giant Time

To eliminate fires on large areas, ID-76TD is equipped with two VAPs (outgoing aviation instruments) with a total capacity of 42 m³. The Aviation Park of the Ministry of Emergency Measures received five such vehicles. Strategic water bombers have been used repeatedly to combat mass fires on Sakhalin, in the Khabarovsk Territory and Transbaikalia, in the Amur Region and Primorye.

Combat exploitation showed ambiguousresults. According to technical characteristics and uniqueness of design developments, VAP-2 was much superior to all existing analogues at the time - the fire plane could produce a massive water discharge in only 4 seconds from a height of 50 meters. But the considerable remoteness of the airfields with the length of the runway necessary for this class of cars, the lack of infrastructure for refueling with fuel and water significantly reduced the efficiency of work.

Amphibian aircraft

Significant contribution to the development of domesticFire aircraft made experts Taganrog Aviation Complex. Beriev. The first fire-fighting amphibian Be-12P-200 was tested in 1996.

In the fuselage of the machine are mounted two tanks of 6 m³, divided into two parts with self-contained leaflets. The board is equipped with a monitoring and measuring system for monitoring the environment, equipment for targeted discharge of water. How does a fire plane pick up water? There are two options. The first is available to all aircraft - refueling at the airport. With good technical support Be-12P will refuel within half an hour. The second way - in the mode of gliding over the water surface - fill the tanks with water only amphibians. At the same Be-12P this procedure will take 14-16 seconds.

Since 2012, with fire fighting andmultifunctional Be-200ES. Time of refueling on gliding was reduced to 12 seconds. A volley discharge of water takes less than a second. Completely fueled fuel tanks amphibious enough to deliver to the epicenter of the fire over 300 tons of water.

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