Been having a blast with FFX and a MAFFS-equipped C-130, operating out of the Orbx KRDD scenery. I've already discovered the hard way that going too low when making a drop can be a bad thing; I came out on the other side of a fire with all four engines ablaze and no options but to ride it out -- low, slow, and no power. (It really gives you a lot of respect for the folks who do this for a living.)

After that experience, I decided it would be a good idea to know more about the fire before charging out to attack it. I now right click the fire on the list in FFX to get the location, then check out that location in Google Earth. I'm mainly looking at the terrain elevation. I do a rough plan for my drops, as well, so I've got a plan of action before I get there.

In the US, at least, it seems that fixed wing firefighting aircraft don't drop ON a fire, but instead drop retardant as a firebreak, to stop the fire from spreading. I've seen pictures from some of the larger fires in California where the tankers had dropped along the top of ridges to keep a fire in a canyon from advancing over the ridge and into a populated area. They also try to make use of existing firebreaks as "anchor points," making a drop that starts at a river or road. Successive drops extend the line of the original drop to contain the fire.

Putting together a game plan seems like a great way to use the wait time while I'm back at the fire base reloading.

I wonder: is anyone else taking attacking fires this way, seeking to contain them so that they burn themselves out, rather than extinguishing them?

Hello Master Yoda,

to get a rough idea of the terrain, you can use the built-in Fire Designer too. It has an option to display elevation data. And then there is the free Lorby Radar App, which can be connected to FireFighter X and display the fire directly on a moving map, downloaded from Google Static Maps. A Google Earth KML export is in the works too (next version of FireFIghter X).

Alternatively, send out an AI lead plane. You can follow it in an AI view window and you can direct it to wait for you over the fire - but be careful when following it in, as AI it may choose a path that is not healthy...

For realistic procedures this website might be of interest:

http://wildfirepilot.weebly.com/

and the forum to go with it:

http://wildfirepilot.clanz.co/

Best regards

 

Thanks, Oliver. I will check out those sites and look for your radar app.

I really like the idea of a KML export.

I'll give the lead plane a try.

Hello Master Yoda,

inspired by your idea about Google Earth I did the following:

If you want, use the "Contact us" form on the Lorby-SI website to send me a message with your SimMarket order number, and I will make that version available to you in advance - so you can check if it meets your requirements.

Best regards

 

Oliver,

That's outstanding! I'll drop you a line as soon as I can. Thank you!

Oliver,

The GE connection is very cool...I can't get GE to update live, but otherwise, the fire was exactly where it was supposed to be. This is going to be a great feature for managing multiplayer firefighting!!

Hi Kurt,

Could you share some details about your setup, how you are running the GE Live View? It seems to work for everyone else. If you want, send me an email.

Best regards

Oliver, 

No need! I figured it out...you need to import both files to GE to get the view to refresh. 

VERY cool feature!

Hi Kurt,

you should only need to open one of them - the file called "loop". It tells GE to continuously reload the other one ("live"), which in turn is updated by FFX. The path to the "live" file is automatically encoded in "loop" by FFX if you set up the GE export paths correctly in the FFX settings.

Best regards

Oliver,

Thanks! Playing around this morning, I wondered about that... I could uncheck all the "live" items in GE and still get the updated ones.