CAL FIRE OV-10D (with the upgraded engines) at Redding, California, August 7, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
CAL FIRE has extended it’s contract with DynCorp for another year for maintaining and operating their S-2T air tankers and OV-10s, and for maintaining their UH-1H helicopters. The agreement has a total value of $27.8 million.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) has extended its contract with DynCorp International (DI) to continue supporting its aviation program to help suppress and control wildfires.
“The partnership between CAL FIRE and DI allows us to meet our mission and keep the residents of California safe.”
“Our aviation fleet is a critical component to our ability to contain wildfires in California,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director. “The partnership between CAL FIRE and DI allows us to meet our mission and keep the residents of California safe.”
Through this contract, DI team members pilot and maintain CAL FIRE’s modified S-2T air tankers and OV-10A aircraft. Air tankers are used to drop fire retardant to help battle wildfires, while the OV-10A aircraft support aerial firefighting operations by directing the air tankers and monitoring critical areas. DI also provides maintenance support for CAL FIRE’s UH-1H helicopters that are used to transport fire fighters and equipment. Aircraft maintenance services include repair, overhaul, modification, and manufacturing of airframes, engines, propellers, helicopter rotating components, and various aircraft parts and components.
“The true heroes are the firefighters that work on the ground to stop these wildfires, and we are honored to work alongside them. DI has supported CAL FIRE since 2001, and our team members take great pride in being able to augment the efforts that save lives, property, and natural resources throughout the state of California,” said James Myles, DynAviation senior vice president, DynCorp International. “Our partnership with the CAL FIRE team has helped DI become a true leader in aerial firefighting.”
Now that we have summarized the evolution of the federal large air tanker fleet over the course of 2014, it’s time to look at what is in store for 2015. There could be between 14 and 21 large air tankers on exclusive use contracts this year. Jennifer Jones, a Public Affairs Specialist with the U. S. Forest Service in Boise, told us that the list should include these aircraft:
1 DC-10, 10 Tanker Air Carrier
1 C-130Q, Coulson
2 RJ-85s, Aero-Flite
2 MD-87s, Erickson Aero Air
1 BAe-146, Neptune
6 P2Vs, Neptune
1 C-130H, U.S. Forest Service
In 2014 a DC-10 and three more BAe-146s were brought into service as “additional equipment” on a 1-year temporary basis under exclusive use contracts awarded in 2013. Due to a change in Department of the Interior procurement policies, this will not be done again in 2015.
The USFS expects to award another “next generation” contract for up to 7 more air tankers in 2015. We will be watching to see how long it takes the agency to advertise and award the contracts. Last time it took 555 days.
The USFS will also have one CL-415 water scooping air tanker on contract this year. And, eight military C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) are expected to be available if needed.
(Originally published February 4, 2015; updated February 12, 2015)
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An organization in Colorado Springs is hoping the city will host the state’s new Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting. The Center was authorized in legislation signed by Governor John Hickenlooper last May which also provided funds for firefighting helicopters and air tankers. The state began contracting for helicopters last summer, and purchased two Pilatus PC-12 fixed wing aircraft to be used for the early detection and persistent surveillance of wildfires. Lawmakers also appropriated $700,000 to establish and operate the Center in its first year, which is expected to be 2015.
The purpose of the Center, according to the legislation, is to:
Serve as a laboratory to evaluate the “three fundamental contributing factors to successful aerial firefighting: effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability”.
Conduct research to evaluate new technology in a variety of settings, such as initial attack, night operations, and operations in wildland-urban interface areas.
Produce data and documentation on science and technology relevant to aerial firefighting.
One of the members of the Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance trying to land the Center in their city is Tony Kern, former national aviation director for the U.S. Forest Service.
Below is an excerpt from an article at Csindy.com:
…The center, to be opened before the end of this year, will bring at least eight jobs. But more importantly, it could spark interest from companies working to develop technology for innovative wildland firefighting, Kern says, and prompt them to set up offices here.
“We have had the two largest wildland-urban interface fires in America in the last three to four years,” Kern says, referring to the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires. “We have the experience and the background. We are motivated and experienced in that whole area.”
In addition, Kern points out, the region offers a central location on the heavily populated Front Range; proximity to military assets that could become part of the research effort, including Fort Carson’s helicopter unit and the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base; and an airport with low rates of weather-related closure and few traffic delays for take-off, due largely to its low number of commercial flights.
There were more requests for large air tankers (LATs) in 2014 than in any of the last 18 years. That is one of the facts in the 2014 version of the Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics put together by the National Interagency Fire Center.
We used data from the report to update statistics that we have been collecting over the years, including the chart below.
One of the more interesting trends is the number of requests for LATs that cannot be filled, referred to as Unable to Fill, or UTF. After reaching a high of 48 percent in 2012, it declined to 21 and then 12 percent in the next two years even as the number of requests for LATs was increasing.
One thing we don’t know is how many Incident Commanders needed air tankers but didn’t bother to request them because they knew that none were available.
Two stats for 2014 indicate there would be a reduced urgent need for air tankers. The number of acres burned in the 48 contiguous states in 2014, 3.4 million, was significantly below the 10 year average of 5.7 million. And the number of structures burned, 1,953 was less than the 10 year average of 3,098.
At the beginning of 2014 there were 10 LATs on exclusive use contracts. By the end of the year there were 17 — eight were added and Minden’s P2V had a landing gear problem (see below) which took it out of service indefinitely. The additional air tankers on exclusive use contracts included:
2 RJ-85s from Aero Flite;
2 MD-87s from Erickson Aero Tanker;
1 DC-10 from 10 Tanker Air Carrier; and
3 BAe-146s from Neptune
In the list of eight additional air tankers listed above, the DC-10 and the three BAe-146s were brought into service as “additional equipment” on a 1-year temporary basis under an exclusive use contract awarded in 2013. Due to a change in Department of the Interior procurement policies, this will not be done again in 2015.
Minden was awarded a Next-Gen contract for a BAe-146 in 2013, but never delivered the aircraft. Recently the USFS terminated the contract for default.
The MAFFS 3 air tanker experienced a hard landing at Hill Air Force Base on August 17. There were no injuries. Photo supplied by the Air Force, originally from Fox 13.
One air tanker was borrowed in 2014 from Canada for 10 days. Saskatchewan provided a Convair 580 and a TurboCommander 690 Bird Dog beginning on July 21. The air tanker group was in place until July 30, when it returned to Canada following a recall from Saskatchewan due to increased fire activity there.
Two Modular Airborne FireFighting System aircraft, C-130s from the military, were activated on July 20 and positioned at Boise. MAFFS 3 experienced a hard landing at Hill AFB when they had a problem with the nose landing gear. While no injuries occurred, the damage ended the service of MAFFS 3 for 2014, but MAFFS1 remained until August 24. MAFFS units provided retardant delivery to the Great Basin, Northwest and Northern Rocky Geographic Areas while employed from July 20 through August 24, delivering a total of 244,406 gallons while conducting 97 sorties. This is down from 2013 when 576 sorties were flown delivering 1,387,881 gallons of retardant.
Other notable aircraft mishaps or crashes in 2014:
Pilot Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt was killed when his S-2T air tanker impacted the ground while he was attempting to make his second retardant drop on the Dog Rock Fire October 7 near Yosemite National Park in California.
Tanker 73, one of CAL FIRE’s 23 S-2Ts, had a problem while landing at Hemet-Ryan Airport Friday, October 3 in southern California. The preliminary information indicated that it was a landing gear issue.
A Bell 206-L3 made a crash landing into a river May 29 while recertifying for water bucket operations near Missoula, Montana.
On June 15, Minden’s P2V, Tanker 48, was substantially damaged when the nose wheel landing gear collapsed during landing roll at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), Fresno, California.
An air attack plane under contract to the Department of the Interior crashed May 17 at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The Rockwell Aero Commander 500S impacted the ground shortly after takeoff. The aircraft was on an orientation flight for a new pilot on the air attack contract. Two company employees, but no agency personnel, were on board. There was an unconfirmed report that one person died several days later.
This is a promotional video demonstrating Air Tractor’s AT-802F and the amphibious version, the Fireboss. Some of the aircraft are operated by Airspray who recently acquired two of the single engine air tankers adding to their fleet of L188 Electras and a BAe-146.
And speaking of the Fireboss, we just ran across the video below that was uploaded to YouTube in 2008. Somehow the aircraft lost the ability to completely stay afloat.
After we heard rumors about it for a few days, the government of New South Wales in Australia has confirmed that they intend to contract for a large, and possibly very large air tanker (LAT or VLAT).
At this time the state of Victoria is contracting during this 2014/2015 bushfire season two LATs supplied by Coulson and Conair, a 3,000-gallon RJ-85 and a 4,000-gallon C-130Q.
NSW Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Police and Emergency Services Stuart Ayres said today that this would be the first time that an LAT has been under contract in the state. While their press release did not specify the time period during which the aircraft would be under contract, another report said they would be used “during the next bushfire season”, which would begin near the end of 2015. And since this bushfire season will be winding down in a while, it would be nearly impossible for a typical government agency to put one under contract for the remainder of this 2014/2015 season if they have not been working on it for months. However, the U.S. Forest Service sets a very low bar for their efficiency in awarding air tanker contracts.
NSW expects to acquire under contract for a “trial”, one air tanker that would hold between 15,000 litres and 40,000 litres (3,962 gallons to 10,566 gallons) of water or fire retardant. If they stick with these specs, that would eliminate the RJ-85, BAe-146, BE-200, and of course the Korean War vintage P2V, leaving, among existing or soon to be flyable privately owned air tankers, the Coulson’s C-130Q and L-382, Erickson’s MD-87, and 10 Tanker’s DC-10.
In addition, the NSW Government announced today that they will:
Commit to additional hazard reduction activities;
Provide NSW with an enhanced fire trail network;
Invest in four regionally-based fire fighting training centres; and
Provide the public with important bush fire information in their locality through an online portal, building on the success of the ‘Fires Near Me’ app.
The Coast Guard shot this video of a small plane, a Cirrus SR-22, using an emergency parachute after running out of fuel on a flight from the United States mainland to Hawaii. The pilot is safe after ditching his aircraft 253 miles northeast of Maui, Hawaii Sunday. The pilot safely exited the aircraft into a life raft and was later picked up by a passing cruise ship.
