http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Waterbomber+operator+offers+reward+after+vandalism+puts/7048691/story.html
whoever did this is an idiot..

I was still thinking Mars as in the planet when I read the title lol

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Waterb...8691/story.html

Need to hot link by using the url button.


Idiots that were playing on it, need to be water bombed by it. Had no idea that some the aircraft was fabric.

If I knew I would have ratted them out for free... but still taken the money.

Same here!

Some Martian punks with water balloons and one very wet Curiosity Rover. That's what I was expecting.

Wow, that sucks. Those planes have saved lives, livelyhoods and personal momentos of perhaps half a million people...by stopping forrest fires before they get to people's homes and workplaces. That's seriously ignorant for someone to tamper with such a plane.

If I had to guess, I'd be suspecting new residents around the lake, who may deeply resent the noise from the plane. This doesn't sound like a drunken yahoo, nor someone who travelled far.

When I was a teenager, our family took our boat out to see these planes on that same lake right up close...in fact we even drove the boat in between the hull/fuselage and the pontoon on the outer end of the wing. Those outrigger pontoons are about the size of a smaller fishing boat! This is a BIG plane...you don't just jump from a boat onto the wing or the tail assembly, it's far too high for that...I suspect this idiot would have had to climb onto the nose or into a door, or throw a rope and secure it to climb up to the tail area. Meaning, this isn't the work of a silly teenager looking to wreck something cool, this was someone who was determined to damage the plane. IMO.

Ain't she one hefty beaut of a plane?



If I caught those punks, I'd make them pay for the damage and then take them on a water bombing run. They'd learn just how deadly the consequences of their actions could have been, appreciate the men they could've killed, work up a sweat, and, who knows, maybe one of them would get 'the flying bug' and become a water bomber pilot or crew. On the other hand, if they turned out to be real losers, they'd have a pleasant memory to run to when Bubba drops the soap in the prison showers they'll be using for the next 10 years.

(Now, if only someone would do a decent Martin Mars for FSX, I'd round out my stable with one of those babies. )

I see that and wonder just how mere PROPELLORS can move enough air to get that thing up to flying speed. I mean, that's got to be like a man using a propellor-top beanie to fly LOL

And then imagine it full of water! Must be very light in relation to the thrust. I've seen much more bulking looking prop jobs fly, even from the water.