Somebody Tell the Forest Service the Wings Aren't Supposed to Come Off
...yes, I settled on that as my clickbait title.
Depending on where you live, aerial firefighting might not cross your mind very often. In the vast dry sections of the United States, however, air tankers that drop water or firefighting foam in the path of wildfires are vital to keeping certain communities safe. States like California are ravaged by wildfires each year. While it can be argued that fighting every wildfire is actually detrimental to the environment, when lives are at risk, air tanker pilots are often regarded as heroes- so it might surprise you that by 2002, on average, one large tanker crashed per year. This was normalization of deviance taken to its extreme, a frankly ridiculous number of accidents being treated as run-of-the-mill by the industry. So why, exactly, was being a tanker pilot so dangerous- and more important, what did we do about it?
(Warning: this post will include historical footage of a plane breaking up in flight that may be disturbing)
Something changed around the middle of the last century. We started to realize that these massive mechanical beasts we were creating were far more resilient than the wooden and fabric constructions of old. An aircraft of today could perhaps last ten, maybe twenty years... or even longer. Early aircraft had been designed with a "safe life" philosophy, essentially guaranteeing that all the parts on the aircraft would last X number of years, and after that, well... no more guarantees. In the second half of the century we began transitioning to the "failsafe" philosophy that aircraft (and indeed, most complex machines) use today. A plane could have a theoretically infinite service life, so long as parts could be maintained or replaced and no single failure would lead to total destruction. With doubler plates and spare parts, we could Ship of Theseus our way into an immortal aircraft!
Conveniently, a large number of military planes went to boneyards or were sold for cheap in the aftermath of World War II, many of which were snapped up and converted for other purposes- including aerial firefighting. These now highly specialized tankers became valuable assets, many staying in service for half a century longer than their original service lives.
So... how do we ensure that incredibly old planes are still safe? Metal wears down, parts need replacing, and issues will only compound over time. For this reason, airlines have continuing airworthiness programs that evaluate the ongoing needs of aging fleets and ensure inspections are being done accordingly.
A continuing airworthiness program is mandatory for aging aircraft under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration... but due to an interesting loophole, air tankers actually didn't fall under their jurisdiction at all. Aircraft that belong to the US government are considered to be the responsibility of the agency that owns them- in this case, the United States Forest Service. While these planes are operated by independent companies, they only operate under exclusive contracts with the Forest Service, making them exempt from FAA oversight. The only requirement, after they were initially signed off as airworthy, was that they continued to be maintained according to applicable military technical orders.
Now, the Forest Service, believe it or not, is not an aviation organization. They deal with trees. And being a US government organization, their priority was getting the cheapest possible services. Thus, these firefighting contracts worked in a way that one might describe as... flawed.
Each year, as the wildfire season approached, aerial firefighting companies would bid for a one year contract. All maintenance had to be done in the off season, as any lack of availability during the contract would be penalized. And given that the Forest Service could simply choose not to hire them next year, all maintenance decisions had to be made with that in mind. If we replace this part, conduct this inspection, or hire this contractor, will that be the straw that drives us to bankruptcy if our contract isn't renewed?
By 2002, this system had killed many, many pilots already. But this time it would be caught on film.
Before the eyes of horrified onlookers, the wings of a C-130 Hercules aerial tanker bent upwards, tore off, and left the fuselage to plummet into the forest below. Only a month later, it happened again.
Two tankers, different aircraft, both owned by the same company. Both were determined to have the same cause- metal fatigue at the base of the wing. Wing failures in tankers are a well known phenomenon (one happened during a gender reveal a couple years back). Tankers need to fly in low to drop their cargo and then pull up in quick succession. The combination of dropping so much weight and the intense maneuver can lead to incredibly high G-forces afting on the wings, and if it's done too quickly or the pilot pulls up too much, the wings will fail at the base. In this case, the pilots didn't do either, but the metal fatigue on the wings reduced the G-forces necessary to lead to failure.
As it turns out, this metal fatigue was hidden under modifications made to the aircraft structure when it was converted. This area was only being inspected every 48 months, in accordance with the original military guidelines (which, again, were from half a century ago). However, because the G-forces involved in these retardant drops were so high, Lockheed later determined that the areas should have been inspected every 4 months.
To be clear: the fact that planes were being treated this way, and the fact that nobody seemed to care for decades how dangerous aerial firefighting was, is normalization of deviance to the highest extent. Can we coin a new term, normalization of negligence?
In the aftermath of the investigation into these accidents, the Forest Service turned over a new leaf (heh). In a rare move for a governmental organization, they realized that they needed to shell out a little more cash. They would now hire companies for longer contracts of 3 to 5 years, meaning maintenance stopped being an economic stressor. Continuing airworthiness programs were built into their contracts, as well as other aviation safety requirements, and companies that couldn't match up quickly went out of business. While this transition was a hard one, it was also necessary. Since the reforms, very few air tankers have been lost in the United States.
Nowadays, those early air tankers have mostly been retired. Most surviving warbirds are thankfully confined to museums and specialized organizations where they are much less likely to have their wings fall off (although that wouldn't save them from a poorly run airshow, but that's a story for another day). Modern air tankers are still not purpose built but are far more reliable, often being converted civillian planes rather than military surplus. I'll leave you with one of those to hopefully put you in a better mood- here, the largest firefighting plane in history, the 747 Global Supertanker, which can carry up to 74,000L of fire retardant. Sick as fuck.
My source for much of this post is this article by Admiral Cloudberg, which goes into a lot more detail. Go check it out.
One interesting element of being a part of a conversation consisting of multiple ADHD people is the backtracking. At some point you realise you're all talking about granny oil wrestling or trying to remember what lobster blood is made of, and you all just go "wait, how the fuck did we get here?" and then you all start retracing your steps to figure out what you had been talking about before, and how it led to this one, until you get back to how you jumped from normal conversations to how one would logistically arrange an ostrich brothel.
Understanding that there is no objectively good art has many benefits, but a favorite of mine is being granted the ability to see that you hate corporate memphis for the same reason people hated fruitiger aero ten years ago, and that people will like corporate memphis ten years from now for the same reason you like fruitiger aero now: because it's the opposite of the thing that's in popular use right now, and reminds you of being ten years younger
As a rule of thumb, any style can work with proper context. The game Going Under is a roguelike dungeoncrawler that satirizes tech startup culture, and it uses corporate memphis to great effect
i do think we should normalise being like. platonically enamoured with someone. perhaps i love and admire you dearly and there's nothing romantic about it
The BEST trope is when a character tells another “let’s run away together, we can leave all of this behind and start a new life somewhere” and gets rejected. And then the rest of the tragedy unfolds
Chainmoker Cat and Bojack Horseman are now the two only items in my list of "shows that are actually fucking amazing but which I wouldn't recommend to anyone."
I haven't seen Bojack Horseman yet but I can say I'll recommend Chainsmoker Cat not as an enjoyable watch but as a depiction of addiction that is neither cool nor cute.
Do not go into Chainsmoker Cat with the plan to be amused unless you like gross out humor, and even then, if you have any empathy you're going to pity her.
It's amazing and I think everyone should watch it... But not as an enjoyable watch
Honestly, having watched the first five episodes, I was initally surprised that the protagonist is consistently doing better than I was doing at my worst. Sure, the rock bottom is the same, materially speaking, but who in the ever-loving fuck has a sister who's willing to buy a hazmat suit to come take care of you in your nasty-ass home when you're sick??
I fully went in assuming that there would be a lot more plotlines boiling down to "local woman goes into insane lengths to make sure that absolutely nobody knows how badly she is living because the only thing that could make it worse would be having anyone witness it", but she's got a fucking support network (mainly consisting of peers who aren't doing any better but still)?? She's got a healthy attitude about it and reminds herself that she's not a bad person just because she's got no life management skills?? She has family and loved ones who know how badly she's doing and still want to help instead of shaming her for making them look bad in association???
Insane what a world of difference it makes when you're not ashamed of being a loser and have loser buddies to be losers with, instead of hiding in isolation from your better-doing friends out of shame and clinging to abusers out of desperation.
There's a segment of population to whom Chainsmoker Cat is a cozy wish-fulfillment fantasy kind of show.
Chainmoker Cat and Bojack Horseman are now the two only items in my list of "shows that are actually fucking amazing but which I wouldn't recommend to anyone."
I haven't seen Bojack Horseman yet but I can say I'll recommend Chainsmoker Cat not as an enjoyable watch but as a depiction of addiction that is neither cool nor cute.
Do not go into Chainsmoker Cat with the plan to be amused unless you like gross out humor, and even then, if you have any empathy you're going to pity her.
It's amazing and I think everyone should watch it... But not as an enjoyable watch
Honestly, having watched the first five episodes, I was initally surprised that the protagonist is consistently doing better than I was doing at my worst. Sure, the rock bottom is the same, materially speaking, but who in the ever-loving fuck has a sister who's willing to buy a hazmat suit to come take care of you in your nasty-ass home when you're sick??
I fully went in assuming that there would be a lot more plotlines boiling down to "local woman goes into insane lengths to make sure that absolutely nobody knows how badly she is living because the only thing that could make it worse would be having anyone witness it", but she's got a fucking support network (mainly consisting of peers who aren't doing any better but still)?? She's got a healthy attitude about it and reminds herself that she's not a bad person just because she's got no life management skills?? She has family and loved ones who know how badly she's doing and still want to help instead of shaming her for making them look bad in association???
Insane what a world of difference it makes when you're not ashamed of being a loser and have loser buddies to be losers with, instead of hiding in isolation from your better-doing friends out of shame and clinging to abusers out of desperation.
There's a segment of population to whom Chainsmoker Cat is a cozy wish-fulfillment fantasy kind of show.
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