Armor-piercing projectile shooting at plane in distress

Jasper National Park in Canada is one of the most pristine glacier scenic spots in the world. The center of the park is the town of Jasper, which is only a 40-minute walk from start to finish, but has an airport with a runway about 1,000 meters long, and only serves a plane called "Super Scoop". This plane is a fire-fighting aircraft ordered by the park from the European SaaB company in order to protect the virgin forest in the park. It looks like a potbellied penguin, it looks clumsy and sluggish, but once it receives a fire alarm, it can glide 800 meters and lift off lightly, and within 3 minutes, it can fly to Lake Marin, the largest lake in the Rocky Mountains. The belly of the plane can be filled with 6 tons of water in just 15 seconds. In the safe season when the air is humid and fire is not easy to occur, the super scoop will also allow tourists to take it to overlook the lakes and mountains of the national park in the air. The story happened on this multi-purpose plane...

"Protector" Blue Sky Fright

At 9 am on March 17, 2003, Super Scoop pilot Gaboni hung a sign "Air Sightseeing" at the gate of the small airport. The passengers on this day are a family of three from Los Angeles, USA. Passengers Jackson and Maggie, a loving couple who came here for their honeymoon a few years ago, took their 5-year-old son Mike to visit Jasper to relive the romantic and sweet scene of the year.

Just as the Jacksons were indulging in the picturesque scenery, a hurried call came from the airborne radio: "Super Scoop, Super Scoop, there is a fire in the forest near the Jasper Park Hotel, please go to the rescue as soon as possible!"

However, the Park Inn is unbiased right in the middle of the airport and the Lake District route. It was a waste of time to return to the airport to drop off the Jackson family before taking off to fight the fire. With Jackson and Maggie's consent, Gaboni decided to go on a firefighting mission for the first time with passengers on board.

In less than a minute, the Super Scoop reached the sky over Lake Marlene. After the water storage was completed, Gaboni closed the water inlet, pulled up the joystick, and the Super Scoop roared and began to climb, turning around and flying towards the Park Hotel.

Three minutes later, Gaboni could already see thick black smoke rising from the forest less than a kilometer from the Park Hotel. He flew the plane above the smoke, pressed the button to open the water outlet, and waited for 6 tons of lake water to burst out to put out the fire.

However, the plane was still flying smoothly, and in a blink of an eye, it flew past the optimal spill point. Gaboni was stunned: This has never happened before, didn't he just press the button? Gaboni quickly turned around and flew back to the fire zone again, pressing the button hard with concentration. However, the plane still did not respond. Gaboni's heart began to sink - the plane's drain wouldn't open!

Fire plane can't drain water

Gaboni's cold sweat began to trickle out - if the water couldn't be drained, the super scoop would turn into a living coffin: the weight added to the plane by 6 tons of water made it impossible for the plane to land safely, even if it After reaching the standard landing speed, it was lucky not to fall directly from the sky, and it could not stop at the airport with only 1,000 meters of runway. Forced landing is very likely to cause the plane to rush out of the runway, resulting in the tragedy of the plane being destroyed and killed; it is impossible for the plane to land on the water surface, because the full stomach of water will make it become a heavy weight and sink directly into the bottom of Marlene Lake; Within a few hundred kilometers, there are rolling Rocky Mountains. Except for small airports, there is no flat place to make a forced landing; the most terrifying thing is that in order to increase the water storage of the super bucket, the fuel tank of this aircraft The capacity is compressed to the extreme, and a tank of fuel will be in a hurry after an hour of flight. Now, it has less than 40 minutes of fuel left!

After instructing the Jackson family to fasten their seat belts, Gaboni began to steer the plane, making continuous large-angle rapid dives and connecting high-speed pulls. At the same time, he kept pressing the button to open the water outlet, hoping to use inertia to develop a faulty water pressure. Drain valve. However, after 5 consecutive aerobatic efforts, the super scoop was still heavy. Due to the special fuel consumption during accelerated flight, the fuel gauge pointer of the aircraft began to slide to the right significantly. If the fuel consumption is like this, I am afraid that the fuel of the aircraft will be in a hurry before the drain valve is opened.

Cold sweat dripped down Gaboni's forehead. If he couldn't drain the water in the air, he could only make an emergency landing with this heavy burden.

After consulting the ground, Gaboni slowly lowered the height of the plane to 600 meters. A clear runway of the small airport had appeared in his line of sight. He held his breath, turned off the plane's automatic landing system, and set it to manual control. He dared not slow the plane down too low, fearing that the plane would fall under the influence of gravity. Two minutes later, Gaboni aimed the nose of the plane at the runway and resolutely pushed down the joystick.

With a "squeak" scream, the tires of the plane rubbed against the concrete floor of the runway and began to taxi. Gaboni slammed on the brakes and lowered the wind resistance. However, the huge inertia made the plane travel at a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour, and the 1,000-meter-long runway was halfway through in an instant. Although the reverse reducer roared almost hoarsely, the plane showed no sign of stopping at all. 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters... The plane roared towards the steel parapet on the edge of the runway. Gaboni didn't have time to think about it, and subconsciously released the brakes, stepped on the accelerator to the end, and pulled the joystick with all his strength - just as the plane was about to rush out of the runway. At the moment, the plane left the ground again, and the tires almost pressed against the fence on the airport parapet, causing all the worried ground personnel to break out in a cold sweat.

The emergency landing at the airport failed! The only option left is to make a forced landing on the water. Gaboni looked at the fuel gauge, the plane could last up to 25 minutes. He turned the nose and flew towards the wide Lake Marlene.

Faced with such a startling change, the Jacksons have long been frightened; Mike, who did not know the horror of death, screamed loudly because of the excitement of the sudden rise and fall of the plane.

On the 5-minute journey of the plane to Marlene Lake, Gaboni handed the Jackson couple a pen and paper and asked them to leave their last words - he was really not sure about letting the plane land safely. The couple looked at each other, and Jackson suddenly loosened his and his son's seat belts, carried Mike in the front row to the back row, and said to Gaboni: "Our family of three is together, no matter what danger we face, we will no longer be afraid, even if we go to heaven, I won't feel lonely. Last words are for those we love. The people we love the most are here. If there are any last words, we will confide in each other on the way to heaven. "

Gaboni nodded silently, and finally took a look at the beautiful landscape under the plane that he had flown over countless times, and began to let the plane descend. When the air pressure on the belly stirred up water mist on the lake surface, Gaboni pushed the joystick, and the plane cut into the water at a light angle. The tail of the plane was suddenly surging, setting off layers of calm Marlene Lake. Huge waves.

"Don't sink! Don't sink!" Gaboni did his best to keep the plane stable, hoping that the plane could slow down smoothly. As long as the plane could stay on the lake for 15 seconds without sinking at zero speed, they would all be able to safely leave the cabin. Immediately, he shouted: "Quick, pull up the life jacket!" The Jacksons hurriedly followed the instructions and pulled down the inflatable drawstring of the life jacket that had already been worn on their bodies. The life jacket that was close to their body suddenly inflated in a burst of inflatable "sizzling". "Swell up.

However, when controlling the plane to slow down, Gaboni felt the plane gradually sink under the action of gravity. It seems that it is impossible for the plane to make an emergency landing on the water surface with a load of 6 tons of water; if it slows down and coasts again, the result will definitely be that the plane sinks directly to the bottom of the water, and no one can escape in time. Gaboni pressed the drain valve again unwillingly, and the plane suddenly shook. Is the valve open?! However, since the valve is underwater at the moment, the belly cannot drain at all. A flash of light flashed in Gaboni's head - as long as the plane is pulled up again, it can be drained!

As a result, the slowing plane roared and started to accelerate again, and the plane finally left the water. Unfortunately, as soon as the plane left the water, the valve closed automatically as usual. Gabonni couldn't wait to press the button, but the valve that was still open and closed underwater just now didn't obey. Gabonni understood: just now, the valve was hit by the huge resistance of the lake water underwater, so it could be knocked open; once the plane left the water, the resistance caused by the air was not enough to open the valve, and Gabonni almost Desperate...

Armed attack to save "Super Scoop"

Several NH-565 helicopters from Winnipeg carrying firefighters and National Guard members appeared on the right side of the super scoop. Due to the urgency of the fire, the guards didn't even have time to unload the machine guns at the door of the cabin, so they directly participated in the firefighting operation. Gaboni looked at the fuel gauge. The super scoop can only fly for 10 minutes at most. The pilot of the plane made a gesture.

In the sunlight, the light reflected from those large-caliber brass bullets was too dazzling. Suddenly, Gaboni had a brilliant idea: let the machine gun armor-piercing rounds on the NH-565 pierce his aircraft water tank!

Gaboni quickly called the airport controllers to express his thoughts, and soon the sound of helicopter pilot Jerry's call came from his earphones: "Super scoop, please get ready, control the speed at 170 miles, maintain altitude, I will approach quickly." After a while, Gaboni watched an NH-565 fly over from the oblique side, and a helmeted guard holding the handle of the machine gun was aiming at the water tank of the super scoop. Behind Gaboni, the Jackson family hugged each other tightly. At this time, NH-565 called again through the radio: "Super scoop, please maintain a level flight of 170 mph, repeat!"

Gaboni's heart was in his throat, and the NH-565 was still closely behind him, and its maximum level flight speed could only reach 160-187 mph. If the speeds of the two planes cannot be consistent, they cannot maintain a parallel flight state, and it is difficult to ensure that the armor-piercing bullets of the machine guns hit the water tank, and may even hit the cabin personnel. Now, Gaboni has taken the risk of reducing the super scoop plane from a cruising speed of 280 mph to 200 mph, and 180 mph is already the minimum airspeed of the super scoop. If the speed is lower than this standard, the plane filled with water will fall into a dangerous situation of rapid fall.

Only a gamble! Gaboni took a breath and loosened the throttle again. The speed of the propellers on both sides of the super scoop slowed down, and the fuselage of the plane began to shake, causing a rapid fall. In an instant, the helicopter moved closer from its right side and was only 50 meters away from it. "Super scoop, keep level flight, keep level flight." After Gaboni heard the call of the helicopter pilot, he firmly grasped the joystick and tried his best to prevent the fast-descending plane from losing its balance. The automatic alarm system in the cabin issued a harsh humming sound. In only half a minute, the plane had descended to a low altitude of 550 meters, and Gaboni's palms were full of sweat...

At this time, the super scoop was like a kite with a broken string falling to the ground, and the helicopter was constantly lowering its height with it. The machine gunner was still nervously aiming at the water tank: 500 meters... 300 meters... 260 meters... Gaboni stared at the increasingly clear ground and shouted in fear: "Quick, shoot fast, the plane is about to fall to the ground!"

Just as he opened his mouth to shout at the intercom, a few lights flashed through the hatch of the NH-565, and the super scoop shook violently. Almost at the same time Jerry's voice came from Gabonny's earphones: "Speed up! Pull up!"

Before he could hesitate, Gaboni stepped on the accelerator and pulled the joystick up almost with the strength of suckling milk. When the belly was almost pulled up against the ground, Mike, who had been staring at the outside of the cabin, shouted excitedly: "Dad, look!" Jackson turned his head and saw that the water tank of the plane had been hit by the armor-piercing bullet of the NH-565. A beautiful rainbow...

The plane finally escaped

According to the investigation after the fact, it turned out that when the super scoop was fetching water that day, a big fish was sucked into the belly and stuck the spring of the outlet valve, which caused such a dangerous situation. This accident caused SaaB to immediately refit the super scoop, and each water inlet was equipped with a high-strength alloy filter, which completely avoided the possibility of debris being sucked into the belly.