MAFFS 6 C130 (Hell of a view fighting the Pier Fire in Cali)

[Gman]

Holy crap...that big Boeing lays down a metric shit-ton of retardant.

Yup, and that linked video doesn't look like a full deployment. Pretty amazing seeing such a large aircraft making those maneuvers at low altitude. Reminds me a bit of watching the B-52s flying in and out of Carswell AFB back in the day. The 747 is a heck of an airframe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006

Only after breaking through the bottom of the clouds at 11,000 feet (3,400 m) was the captain able to orient himself and bring the plane under control, leveling out at 9,600 feet (2,900 m). They had descended 30,000 ft (9,100 m) in under two and a half minutes. while all onboard experienced g-forces, as high as 5g.^[1](p12) The cockpit crew believed that all four engines had flamed out, but the National Transportation Safety Board found that only engine No. 4 had failed.

After leveling out, the three remaining engines were supplying normal thrust. A restart attempt brought No. 4 back into use. They began climbing and reported to air traffic control "condition normal now" and continuing on to Los Angeles. They then noticed that the inboard main landing gear was down and one of the plane's hydraulic systems was empty.^[1](p5) Because they did not have sufficient fuel to reach Los Angeles with the drag added by the landing gear, they diverted to San Francisco. An emergency was then declared and they flew straight in to the SFO airport.^[1](p5)

The plane landed without further incident.^[3]

The aircraft was significantly damaged by the excessive G-forces. The wings were permanently bent upwards by 2 inches (5 cm), the inboard main landing gear lost two actuator doors, and the two inboard main gear struts were left dangling.^[1] Most affected was the tail, where large outer parts of the horizontal stabilizer had been ripped off. The entire left outboard elevator had been lost along with its actuator, which had been powered by the hydraulic system that ruptured and drained.^[1]

After repairs were made to the plane, it returned to service on April 25, 1985. It continued in service for nearly 12 years until it was leased to China Airlines' sister company, Mandarin Airlines, on January 1, 1997, and was in daily service for the remainder of that year.