For all you pilots and wannabees..

[Faster]

Not sailing, but water related.. and I know there's a lot of pilots here.

The Martin Mars bombers, resident in BC for the last several decades are currently helping fight the California fires.

The series below is the approach of one of these behemoths at a reservoir that is small enough that these planes need every inch of water to successfully load and take off again....

We did a race in '91 after a lightning storm, and two of these planes spent the whole day landing and picking up water amongs the racing fleet of 50 boats... I'm sure they would rather we'd not been there - but what a show it was. Unbelievable power.

[DJEVANS]

INCREDIBLE photos!! We have a PBY tanker that gets its loads from the river in front of our property for area firefighting efforts, but have never gotten photos of this quality! Truly fantastic!

[Faster]

Yes, DJ, they are something... I wish I could take credit, but they came to me via a forwarded email .

The fellow who took them was a retired pilot who used to fly these birds.

Those people on the water's edge must have been vibrating to their very souls!

[jerryrlitton]

That was simply incredible. As a pilot I know what finesse is required to extract that kind of performance from that aircraft. Thanks you again.

Jerry

[TSteele65]

That is some ballsy flying!