Talking About Current Events: Would 'flying water tankers' have been able to successfully extinguish the Notre Dame fire?
Would "flying water tankers" have been able to successfully extinguish the Notre Dame fire? No. Firefighting “bombers” would not have been able to successfully extinguish the fire that seriously damaged the Cathedral of Notre Dame. On the contrary, they would have just completed the destruction of the ancient structure that the flames started. To wit: Call them air tankers, water bombers, or aerial firefighters, fixed-wing aircraft that drop either water or flame retardant are fine for helping douse or at least diminish wildfires in remote, unpopulated areas such as forests or national parks. In heavily urbanized areas, such as Metro Paris in France, water bombers are useless. I mean, okay. The planes will douse the fire, sure. But they’ll also cause a lot of destruction, injuries, and even loss of lives. Air tankers are not precision instruments. If we were to make an analogy, using a water bomber on Notre Dame is like using a sledgehammer to swat a mosqui...