RJ-85 retardant drops in Australia

RJ-85
Image from the RJ-85 Facebook page.

The Conair and Field Air folks that are running the RJ-85 air tanker in Australia during their summer down under, posted this map on a Facebook page dedicated to the aircraft’s assignment in Victoria. It is based at the Avalon airport southwest of Melbourne.

The triangles represent retardant drops. Frequently the RJ-85 and the C-130Q are dispatched to the same fires in Victoria and South Australia. The two aircraft dropped on their first fire in the country on December 16, 2014.

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2 thoughts on “RJ-85 retardant drops in Australia”

  1. Does anyone know what the logo is representing? Looks like a phoenix cat with a flying goggles. Does this aircraft have an animal type name?

  2. The tracks leading NE from Avalon towards Benalla and Albury are significant in that they seem to represent new cooperation from ATC clearing airtankers to proceed directly to fires without making a very wide detour around Melbourne’s busy Tullamarine (int’l airport) airspace. That was one of the former disadvantages of using Avalon: it is one of very few suitable airports that had a large chunk of restricted airspace between the tanker base and so many fire locations. It’s good to see the program assisted by this increased efficiency. The Aussies, decades late to the LAT party, finally seem committed to making the program work after so many half-hearted trials in previous years.

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