News & commentary about aerial firefighting, air tankers, and helicopters
Above: Tanker 105 at McClellan Air Field, August 5, 2017. It is a good view of the external tank, or pod, that was fabricated and installed below the retardant tank doors, which lowered the release point by 46 inches. The intent was to keep the flow of the retardant away from the engines. Photo by John Vogel.
(Originally published at 6:04 p.m. MDT August 5, 2017)
John Vogel shot these excellent photos on August 5 of air tankers at McClellan Air Field near Sacramento.
Thanks John!
Above: One of Erickson Aero Tanker’s MD-87’s, Tanker 105, makes a drop on the Whittier Fire northwest of Goleta, California. Santa Barbara County Fire Department photo.
Originally published at 11 p.m. MDT July 13, 2017
We have not seen the MD-87 air tankers over fires for a while, but the photo above and the video below were posted on Twitter July 13, 2017 by Mike Eliason of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
As we reported in March, we talked with Kevin McLoughlin, the Director of Air Tanker Operations for Erickson Aero Tanker, who told us that they have fixed the problem with their recently converted MD-87 air tankers and expect to have five of them available this summer. Two are on exclusive use contracts and they hope to have the others on call when needed contracts. The issue involved retardant dispersing over the wing which left open the possibility of it being ingested into the engines. They had an external tank, or pod, fabricated and installed below the retardant tank doors, which lowers the release point by 46 inches, mitigating the problem, Mr. McLoughlin said. In November the aircraft took and passed the grid test again, certifying it for coverage levels one through eight.
Check out the video below of a drop on the Whittier Fire northwest of Goleta, California.
#WhittierFire– An Erickson MD-87 makes a phoschek drop above Dos Pueblos Canyon below West Camino Cielo. pic.twitter.com/vuj8g7hLUR
— SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) July 13, 2017
In September of 2015 an Erickson MD-87 experienced an engine failure after departing from Fresno Airport. Pieces of the engine fell into a residential neighborhood, with at least one fragment shattering the rear window in a car. The aircraft returned to the airport.
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.
While looking for another video, I ran across this beautiful shot of one of Erickson Aero Tankers’ ships (I believe it is Tanker 105) making a drop on the Lost Mine Loop Fire, September 21, 2014. It was uploaded to YouTube by Frenchtown Rural Fire District.
According to an FAA report, one of Erickson Aero Tanker’s aircraft was struck by a garbage truck while parked at San Antonio, Texas January 5, 2015. There were no injuries, and the amount of damage to Tanker 105 is unknown.
The aircraft is an MD-87, N295EA, first certified by the Interagency Airtanker Board in 2014. One of its sister air tankers, T-101, made the first drop on a fire by an MD-87 June 7 on the Two Bulls Fire west of Bend, Oregon.
The aircraft is off contract now and the start date for 2015 hasn’t been determined.
A phone call to Erickson Aero Tanker was not returned.
This video uploaded to YouTube on June 8 shows several different air tankers taking off at Redmond, Oregon to work on the Two Bulls Fire three miles west of Bend, Oregon. The aircraft seen in the video include MD-87s (T-101 and 105), a P2V (probably T-06), and a BAe-146. At first the video looks like a still photograph, but the first aircraft can be seen about 12 seconds in.
It is interesting seeing the different routes taken after takeoff, the speed of the aircraft, and the altitude at the end of the runway.
The two MD-87 air tankers that just entered service both worked the Two Bulls Fire west of Bend, Oregon today. June 8 was the first day on duty for T-105; its sister T-101’s first day was June 4. Earlier we had a photo of T-101 taken shortly after it reported for duty.
Jeff Ingelse took the photo above and said all three ships, including T-06, the P2V, flew several loads of retardant to the fire today. Thanks Jeff!
