How much water 1 firefighting plane can really carry will surprise you

When you picture a firefighting plane, you might imagine a little aircraft dropping a modest splash of water over a raging wildfire.

In reality, these machines are airborne giants capable of unleashing thousands of gallons in just one run.

And the truth is, no matter how many fire trucks you line up, not even a fleet of them can match the sheer volume that one of these aircraft can dump from the sky.

That’s why they’ve become some of the most valuable weapons in the battle against wildfires.

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A firefighting plane can carry thousands of gallons of water

Wildfires move frighteningly fast; flames can spread at up to 14 miles per hour.

This means that firefighting aircraft are essential for keeping them from swallowing up entire towns.

While a typical pumper truck carries between 500 and 1,000 gallons of water, many firefighting planes can carry 10 times that, or even more.

For perspective, some Very Large Airtankers (VLATs) drop as much water or retardant in one go as twenty fire trucks working flat out.

The smallest category is the Single-Engine Airtanker, represented by the Air Tractor AT802 Fire Boss.

It’s basically a rugged crop duster that doubles as a Water Scooper, sucking up 820 gallons of water from lakes or rivers.

If you want to see the cockpit POV showing an aircraft being used to collect water, you can check it out here.

Move up a size, and you’ve got Large Airtankers, such as converted C-130 Hercules or retired passenger jets like the MD-87 and BAe 146-200.

These heavyweights carry around 3,000 to 4,000 gallons each, which is a significant step-up over the smaller planes.

Some carry enough water to drench a football field

But things get jaw-dropping when you step into the VLATs category.

The current king of the skies is the DC-10, a converted widebody jetliner that can unload a jaw-dropping 11,600 gallons of retardant in a single pass.

Up until 2021, that title went to the ‘Supertanker,’ a modified Boeing 747, which hauled a mind-bending 18,000 gallons, although it has since retired from service.

For reference, that is enough to drench several football fields in bright red fire retardant.

Helicopters play their part, too.

While they can’t match the capacity of the big jets, their agility makes them indispensable.

California’s Black Hawks and Super Hueys sling buckets filled with hundreds of gallons and can drop water with pinpoint accuracy in places where planes can’t maneuver.

The next time you see a firefighting plane roaring overhead, know that there’s a good chance the aircraft is dumping the equivalent of a small swimming pool onto the flames below.

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