Unlike military bombing, which can be done from miles up, air tankers operate at low altitudes, more like crop dusters than B-52s. The lower the release, the less evaporation of water, or diffusion of retardant, will occur. For this reason, drops are typically made just two or three hundred feet above the target, which leaves a perilously narrow margin for error, especially when flying through the thick smoke and unstable airs of a wildfire. Even under ideal conditions, the combination of a heavy load of liquid and a low approach means that even the smallest human error or mechanical glitch
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