Martin Mars completes first mission on BCWS contract

Martin Mars after July 18 mission
Martin Mars on Sproat Lake after a July 18, 2015 mission. Coulson Photo.

On Saturday, July 18, the Martin Mars flying boat completed its first mission under their new 30-day contract with the British Columbia Wildfire Service. According to Coulson Flying Tankers, the owner of the water-scooping air tanker that can hold up to 7,200 gallons, the aircraft flew a total of 8 hours. Of that, 4 was spent ferrying across the province and back, and the other 4 was used to drop 9 loads of water for a total of 52,800 gallons. They did it without having to land and refuel.

Coulson said the aircraft dropped 158,503 gallons in one day on fires near Lake Shasta in northern California in 2008. In the late 1970s, according to the Coulson company, the Hawaii Mars dropped 200,000 gallons in one day.

Aircraft over the North Fire

Citation lead plane
One of the two Cessna Citation jet-powered lead planes under contract with the BLM. North Fire.

I took these photos of the television screen as Los Angeles Channel 7 was covering the North Fire — the carmeddon fire that trapped scores of vehicles on Interstate 15 in southern California, burning 22 of them.

The temperature on the screen says 76 degrees, but that must have been at downtown Los Angeles, because about that time it was 88 degrees in San Bernardino, not too far from the fire.

air tanker 105 North Fire
Tanker 105, an MD-87, on the North Fire.
Tanker 912, a DC-10
Tanker 912, a DC-10, just beginning a drop on the North Fire.

5 drones seen at wildfire in California, 2 reportedly chased firefighting aircraft

Drones are increasingly becoming a very serious problem at fires in California. On Friday, July 17, five were reported near the North Fire — the “carmegeddon” fire that burned 22 vehicles trapped on Interstate 15 in southern California. Two drones, according to an agency spokesperson, actually gave chase to firefighting aircraft.

Below are excerpts from an article at NBC Los Angeles:

…All air units not only pulled back from the fire because of the drones, but all five were forced to touch back down at the airport in San Bernardino after jettisoning their loads, John Miller of the U.S. Forest Service said.

Five drones were initially spotted over the fire, which consumed five homes and more than a dozen cars as motorists frantically fled on foot through the Cajon Pass.

Two drones actually gave chase to air units, and the incident delayed response by about 15 to 20 minutes, according to Battalion Chief Marc Peebles of San Bernardino County Fire Department.

When asked if the delay contributed to the fire jumping the 15 Freeway, Peebles said “It definitely contributed to it.”

Martin Mars gets 30-day contract

Martin Mars test
A Martin Mars test water drop over Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island, B.C., July 10, 2015. Coulson photo.

The Martin Mars 7,200-gallon flying boat air tanker has received a 30-day contract with the government of British Columbia. It was serviceable on Sunday, July 12 but since then has not been dispatched to any fires.

CKNW AM radio is reporting that the contract specifies a daily availability rate of $15,000 and a flight hour rate of $6,000. The average rates for the 14 large air tankers that the U.S. currently has under exclusive use contracts are a daily rate of $22,901 and $8,408 for each flight hour. Of those 14 air tankers, 13 of them can carry up to 2,000 to 4,000 gallons, and the DC-10 holds 11,600 gallons.

On their Facebook page, Coulson Flying Tankers, the company that owns the two Martin Mars air tankers, explained how this 30-day firefighting contract will affect their previous plans to train pilots from China who will be flying a new amphibious aircraft now being built:

…Coulson has a contract with International Test Pilot School (ITPS) from Ontario, Canada dating back to October of 2014. The contract is for Chinese Test Pilots to familiarize themselves with the largest float plane in the world.

The Chinese government currently has under construction the second largest seaplane in the world called a TA 600, which these pilots will be flying.

The original contract was between July 20 to July 30, but a modified contract is now in place where the aircraft will train the test pilots between July 20-26.

Coulson has also negotiated with ITPS the condition that the Mars must stay on call to the BCFS and a procedure has been worked out to remove flight crew being trained so the Mars can go to a fire if called.

We appreciate both the flexibility of ITPS and the BCFS to work out a solution to accomplish the goal of servicing both customers.

Tanker 260 at Whitehorse

Air Tanker 260 at Whitehorse
T-260 at Whitehorse, YT. Photo by D. Cote, Yukon Wildland Fire Management.

Doug Cote with Yukon Wildland Fire Management sent us this photo of Tanker 260, a CL-415. It was taken today, July 16, at Whitehorse International Airport, Yukon Territory (map). (I fixed the date on the photo.)

T-260 has been fighting fires in Alaska for several weeks. We’re thinking it stopped for fuel at Whitehorse on the way home.

The still almost new aircraft fought its first fire in May, 2014 in Oklahoma.

Video of MAFFS training with lead planes

MAFFS approach
MAFFS approaching the drop area. Screen grab from the video.

The video below shows Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) C-130J aircraft from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing conducting training drops with lead planes. The video was uploaded to YouTube July 14, 2015, but it appears that the training occurred in April in the Angeles National Forest and in Kern County, California.

The image you see before the video begins had to have been taken years ago, since it shows the original version of the MAFFS which pumped retardant out the rear ramp. In the MAFFS2 that is used today water or retardant exits the aircraft out the left side troop door.

Jet lead plane
Jet lead plane producing smoke to mark the target for the following MAFFS air tanker. Screen grab from the video.

Beginning at 3:30 you’ll see a jet-powered lead plane. This could be the Dynamic Aviation Cessna Citation CJ, N10R, that received a Bureau of Land Management Contract in 2014. In May, 2014, Aviation Week had an interesting article about the history of Dynamic Aviation. The company also has a contract for a Beechcraft King Air E90 being used as an air attack aircraft.

Citation lead plane, N10R,
Cessna Citation lead plane, N10R, at Boise, July 19, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

On July 13 N10R flew from Boise to Fort Wainwright, Alaska at 28,000 feet and 350 knots (403 mph). Flying for about 5.7 hours in three hops, it got there considerably more quickly than the Type 3 BLM helicopter on contract, N173BH, that spent four days in June flying from Rifle, Colorado to Fairbanks.

Neptune’s newest BAe-146 air tanker

air tanker 12 bae-146 neptune
Neptune’s “new” Tanker 12, going through last minute checks at Missoula, July 14, 2015, before it was due to depart for its contract with CAL FIRE. Photo by Bill Moss.

Bill Moss photographed Neptune’s newest air tanker for us, Tanker 12, on Tuesday as it was going through last minute checks and inspections the day before it was due to report for duty with CAL FIRE. It is expected to begin the contract at 10 a.m. on July 15 at Porterville, California. (We first wrote about this contract on July 10, 2015.)

CAL FIRE is also contracting for a second large air tanker, Erickson’s Tanker 60, a DC-7, to supplement their 22 S-2Ts.

Neptune took delivery of Tanker 12 on May 15 from Tronos Aviation of Summerside, PE, Canada and converted it into an air tanker in house at Missoula. This is one of the Missoula company’s seven BAe-146-200s. The tanker numbers are 01, 02, 03 (still being converted) 10, 12, 40, & 41.

Mr. Moss tells us that the first flight for what is now T-12 was on May 13, 1991, after which it was operated by six different foreign carriers from June 1991 until August 2012.

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This article was corrected to indicate that the conversion of this particular aircraft was done by Neptune, unlike at least one other of their BAe-146s that was done at Tronos.