Original Message

The 139, for example, is comparable in cost to a Type 1 helicopter but, in terms of water-dropping, delivers Type II performance. When LA City Fire went from Bell 412s to the 139s, they gained only about 40 gallons of water tank capacity. For about the same cost, they could have purchased UH60/S70s and neary tripled their water-dropping capacity. That's why there are a lot of Hawks in the firefighting world and nearly zero 139s.