The following images show the extremely challenging flying conditions faced by RAAF flying missions with the C-130J Super Hercules and C-27J Spartan aircraft in New South Wales and eastern Victoria.
These flights were carried out to firefighting activities and evacuation of people, during the deadly bushfires that are raging across Australia.
As they fly through the heavy smoke, the cargo planes have their cabins illuminated by the red glow of the fires.
According to the RAAF, the videos were filmed on 04 January 2020, when C-130Js attempted to land in Merimbula to bring in Fire and Rescue teams from the north coast, while the C-27J crew attempted to land in Mallacoota to carry out an evacuation of people from the site.
Our people are highly trained & professional, but not always able to complete the mission on first try.
This video shows how heavy smoke from bushfires has prevented some C27J & C130J flights from reaching #Mallacoota & #Merimbula #AusAirForce #AustralianFires #YourADF pic.twitter.com/PhNjNIUVHf- Air Commander (@RAAF_ACAUST) January 6, 2020
Landing on such small airfields with degraded visibility due to the smoke generated by forest fires is not an easy task.
Photographs from New South Wales show a very strange landscape, full of smoke lit by a burning red sky. It looks like a scene from Mars.
A total of 146 fires are burning across New South Wales (NSW), according to the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS). Over 5,25 million hectares of forest have burned so far this Australian fire season, and almost 1500 homes have been destroyed in NSW alone.
The Australian Defense Force (ADF) launched Operation Bushfire Assist 19-20 and set up t Task Forces in New South Wales and Victoria to enhance Defense following devastating bushfires in south east Australia.
Alongside the RAAF C-27Js and C-130Js, which provide transport, MEDEVAC and other firefighting , HMAS Choules and MV Sycamore sail from Sydney and operate off the south coast of NSW/North East Victoria to provide to communities that were isolated due to forest fires.
Royal Australian Navy MRH-90 helicopters were also dispatched to Operation Bushfire Assist.
Qantas canceled all flights in and out of the country's capital, Canberra, on Sunday due to smoke and dangerous weather conditions. Indeed, wildfires are generating firestorms and whirlwinds.
Pyrocumulonimbus clouds (that is, thunderstorms formed from a cloud of smoke from a fire) are created by the intense heat of the fire causing the air to rise rapidly. As it rises, the air cools and condenses, forming a cloud.
As the cloud rises it cools in the low temperatures of the upper atmosphere.
Collisions of ice particles in the highest parts of the cloud accumulate an electrical charge, which can be released like lightning. This can cause dangerous and unpredictable changes in the fire's behavior, making it difficult to fight and causing lightning strikes that can spark new fires.
The rising air also encourages intense air currents, causing the fire to burn brighter and spread further.
Via - The Aviationist
