Victoria to again have two large air tankers under contract this summer

Emergency Management Victoria will have two large air tankers from North America under firefighting contract again during their down-under summer.

Tanker 161 RJ85.
Tanker 161, an RJ85. Photo supplied by RJ85 Australia.

Beginning December 1 they expect to have the same types of aircraft that they employed in the 2014/2015 bushfire season — one of Conair’s RJ85s, and Coulson’s Tanker 131, a C-130Q (known in Australia as Bomber 390).

The RJ85, N355AC, is en route now island hopping across the Pacific after departing Abbotsford, British Columbia at 2:04 p.m. MST on November 14. When heard from last, it left Guadalcanal Nov. 17 at 3:03 p.m. MST on its final leg and was due in Australia Nov. 17 at 8:52 p.m. MST, a six-hour flight.  Last year because of the limited range of the RJ85, they used fuel bladders for the multi-day trip.

Coulson’s Tanker 131 (N130FF) is getting a new 4,000 USG tank and Smart Controller upgrade and is expected to depart for Australia by the end of next week.

During the 2014/2015 fire season the two air tankers completed 81 drops of fire retardant on fires in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

New South Wales already has two air tankers on duty, T-910 (N612AX) a DC-10 operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, and Coulson’s Tanker 132, an L-382G (N405LC) which is a civilian stretched version of a C-130.

DC-10 air tanker arrives in Australia

air tanker 910
T-910 prepares to depart Albuquerque for Australia. Photo by 10 Tanker Air Carrier.

The second air tanker from North America has arrived in New South Wales for their summer bushfire season. Tanker 910, one of three DC-10s operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, arrived on September 28 after flying from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aircraft flew at 28,000 feet and 512 mph in between stops for fuel at Hawaii and Pago Pago. It dropped into Brisbane, Australia to go through customs and is expected to arrive at RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney at 10:08 p.m. US Mountain Time on September 28.

Tanker 910 joins Tanker 132, an L-382 Hercules operated by Coulson, which has been down under since the first part of September. New South Wales has contracted for the two of them to help ground-based firefighters during the Australian summer. They will be stationed at RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney.

Coulson says the L-382 has their latest Coulson SMART 4,400-gallon (16,655 liter) retardant tank system. The DC-10 carries 11,600 gallons (44,000 liters).

Victoria will have two large air tankers under contract again this summer, beginning in November unless they are needed earlier. A year ago during Australia’s 2014-2015 summer two large air tankers from North America were under contract in the state, Coulson’s Tanker 131, a C-130Q, and Conair’s Tanker 162, an RJ-85. The two aircraft dropped more than a million liters (264,000 gallons) of fire retardant across the state, completing 81 drops across Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

Tanker 132
Leading Aircraftmen Lewis Holland and Brendan Donnelly of No 37 Squadron tow an Air Start Cart to Tanker 132 at RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney. Photo by CPL David Said.

Video of a C-130Q and RJ-85 dropping on a fire in Victoria, Australia

In this video Conair’s RJ-85 and Coulson’s C-130Q air tankers are seen dropping retardant on a bushfire near Moyston, Victoria in Australia, January 2, 2015. The C-130Q is first, followed two minutes later by the RJ-85. These aircraft are known as “bombers” or “water bombers” in Australia and were on contract for the Australian summer in 2014/2015. As of March 12, 2015, the C-130Q has completed its contract and is over the Pacific en route back to North America. The RJ-85 is also done with their contract, but before they can depart they have to install some fuel bladders, due to the limited fuel range of the aircraft.

Managing Australia’s aerial firefighting assets

Air Tanker 162
Air Tanker 162, known as Bomber 391 in Australia, is shown with a truckload of fire retardant transported to Western Australia by the Royal Australian Air Force. (still image from the video below)

The video below, produced by the Royal Australian Air Force, provides information about how the Australian Defence Force assisted residents and fire fighting efforts in Western Australia during the recent fire seige.

Victoria firefighting aircraft
Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning Victoria welcomes 46 firefighting aircraft. (still image from the video below.)

In the next video, produced by Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in December, 2014, officials welcome 46 firefighting aircraft of all shapes and sizes to the 2014/2015 bushfire season, including two large air tankers from North America.

And one last video — this one showing Tanker 131, known as Bomber 390 in Australia, landing at Avalon in Victoria.

Large air tankers are put to work in Australia

Bomber 390, tanker 131

Since they started on contract a couple of weeks ago, the two large air tankers currently working in Victoria, Australia are being used on a regular basis to help firefighters on the ground knock down bushfires . The two aircraft are an RJ-85, known as Bomber 391 (Tanker 161), and a C-130Q, called Bomber 390 (Tanker 131). These first two photos show the C-130Q.

Bomber 390, tanker 11

The next two photos, we are told, are examples of how the retardant dropped by the planes slowed down, or stopped in some places, fires spreading through grass. These last two photos were taken by Lee Gleeson, Air Attack Supervisor with the DEPI in Victoria.

air tanker drop

air tanker drop

Large air tankers in Australia drop on their first fire

Conair's RJ-85
Conair’s RJ-85 returns from making its first retardant drop on a fire in Victoria, Australia December 16. Photo by Michael Austin.

The two large air tankers that are on contract in Victoria, Australia made their first down under retardant drops on a fire December 16. Conair’s RJ-85 and Coulson’s C-130Q each made one drop on a wildfire near the town of Wodonga in northeast Victoria, with both of them putting about an hour and a quarter on their hours meter. These photos were taken by Micheal Austin as the retardant-stained aircraft were returning and landing at Avalon.

The photo of the RJ-85 above shows a retardant stain coming from what appears to be a small orifice high up on the rear section of the bolt-on tank, which could be some sort of overflow function. (Click on the photos to see larger versions.)

The Border Mail has some fascinating photos of the fire, including many shots with lightning in the background.

Coulson's C-130Q
Coulson’s C-130Q returns from making its first retardant drop on a fire in Victoria, Australia, December 16. Photo by Michael Austin.

As we reported earlier, at 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday the two air tankers and seven other firefighting aircraft were formally introduced to the Australian media. Both the RJ-85 and the C-130 made demonstration drops with water. A few hours later in the early afternoon they were dispatched to the fire near Wodonga.

Below is an excerpt from ABC, reporting on the introduction of the large air tankers:

…Two Canadian water bombing aircraft doing a practice run for the media at Avalon Airport were called in to help fight the blaze.

The Hercules and RJ tankers can hold more than 12,000 litres of water or fire retardant, which is almost double the capacity of the largest water bombers used last year.

Emergency Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the two tankers would be crucial to firefighting this summer because they can fly longer distances.

“They’ll be based at Avalon but they can reach either ends of the state,” he said.

“[They can go] over to Mallacoota or across into the far south-west in around 30 minutes, so their flying time is quite significant.”

Conair's RJ-85
Conair’s RJ-85 makes a demonstration drop at the Avalon airport, December 16, 2014 in Victoria, Australia. Photo by Michael Austin.

Conair is in partnership with the Australian company Field Air in making the RJ-85 aircraft available in Australia. They have launched a Facebook page dedicated to the RJ-85 in Australia, and posted a video that details the development of the air tanker.