A Mountain Monday Rant and Proposal

I was taking a drive on Vancouver Island looking for some mountains when I saw something that really got me annoyed. Here it is:

On Sproat Lake near Port Alberni I captured a photo of one of the most amazing airplanes ever built. This plane started out as a 1946 US Navy transport plane - a flying boat. There were only seven ever made and there are two remaining in the world. These are the largest flying boats ever made - not counting the Spruce Goose built by Howard Hughes which was only a prototype. Both remaining airplanes are owned by a British Columbia company and they were converted to water bombers for fighting forest fires. These are by far the largest water bombers ever built.

I'll tell you why this plane, the Martin Mars water bomber, gets me upset, but first, take a look at this Youtube video to learn a little more about the plane.

Martin Mars water Bomber

Got it? Fantastic airplane, capable of drenching four acres of forest in a single pass. So why would this get me upset? Simple. They don't use it anymore. It flies around to airshows and does not fight fires. I think this is due to the expense of running it and also the lack of spare parts, but this plane doesn't fight fires anymore and there is nothing in the world that can replace it.

I want to show you something else... you guys know I love mountains, right? Have a look at what surrounds the mountains.

TREES! And also lakes and rivers filled with... WATER.

Last year was one the worst years on record for forest fires. All up and down the western Provinces and States of North America the whole place was on fire. Here's a little map of fires still burning in BC last September when the fire season should have been wrapping up. I believe the number of active fires in BC at that time was still close to six hundred.

source

The smoke carried as far east as Ireland. California alone had some of the biggest forest fires ever recorded. The climate is changing whether we chose to accept it or not, and I'm not going to get all "Al Gore" on you about the causes. Some of this is due to natural cycles in the environment and some of it is no doubt caused by humans. I'm not here to talk about the causes. I don't think there is anything we can do about it in any case except perhaps for this one tiny thing...

How about we start putting out all the damn forest fires???

We need to get WAY better at this. Let me show you just a couple more photos, then I'll tell you what I think we should be doing.

The Three Sisters, in Canmore Alberta. Above: May 2018. Below: August 2018.

You should try breathing that air. I had to wear a mask inside the car. It was unbelievable!

A modest proposal.

How about we here in Canada take the lead and start building a fleet of new 21st-century water bombers? We have all the engineering and scientific capabilities for doing this. We have the aircraft manufacturing capabilities right here, right now. All this needs is some political will and funding from the government to get the ball rolling. The Martin Mars was built in 1946. That's seventy-three years ago! Do you think there might be a worldwide demand for planes bigger and better than the Martin Mars? I sure as heck think so.

How about we call up Australia on the phone. "Hey there, I understand half your country is on fire at the moment. We've got some cool new planes for you... interested?"

Or this... "California? Put the governor on the phone, will ya?"

Think some massive new high-tech planes wouldn't sell? Are you kidding me? Let's get this done!