Helitak Firefighting Equipment, a developer of firefighting tanks for helicopters located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, has received an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the FT-11K retractable aerial fire tank for CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
Aerial Fire Magazine reports that the FT-11K has been in development and testing for several years; with its retractable design, the tank can be fitted to any CH-47 with no modifications required. Together with its launch customer, Alaska-based Rotak Helicopter Services, it debuted at Heli-Expo 2023 in Atlanta and began testing last year in California, Idaho, and Arizona, before the granting of the STC this month.
According to Vertical Magazine, the FT-11K tank also does not take up any internal space to carry water or flame retardant. This video from a year ago shows off Helitak’s FT4250 Super Puma Fire Tank:
The FT-11K tank is now the only one in the marketplace that can carry more than 2500 gallons, the current maximum capacity of existing tanks. The CH-47 tank comes with both hydraulic and electric pump fill options, and it can be fitted or removed from in about a half hour.
The new FT-11K tank has a capacity of 2905 US gallons (11000 liters) that can be dropped in stages or in a single load. The tank can optionally carry a 132-gallon (500-liter) load of foam if needed. Tank fill time is about 60 seconds using the included hover fill pump. Empty weight of the tank is specified at 2,030 lbs., with full weight measured at 26,455 lbs. and a height of 14 inches (36 cm). Hover fill pump time is recorded at 2,641 gallons per minute.
“As a team, we are ecstatic to finally have the FT-11K tank certified by the FAA after many years of development and testing at our facility in Australia,” said Jason Schellaars, CEO of Helitak. “The hard work of the team at Rotak Helicopters assisted us in gaining the FAA STC for the product.” He said Helitak and the team are looking forward to the tank’s first season. “I am immensely proud of the work put in by over one hundred people in two countries that helped make this product a reality for the market.”
Here’s some clips from Day 1 of the Heli Expo last year in Atlanta, courtesy of AIN Media Group online:
Helitak will display the FT-11K at the 2024 Heli Expo in Anaheim, California, the last week of February. The company will also bring its FT- 1300-1800-2500-4500 tanks to Anaheim for the AS350, Bell Meduim, and UH-60 airframes.
For further information on this or any other Helitak Firefighting Equipment tank, you can contact sa***@he*****.au or check them out online at helitak.com.au