Tanker (Type 1 and 2) Update (US)

It has been quite awhile since I wrote an article with an update on the number of Tankers on Federal Contract here in America. I am referring to what some call large or heavy tankers. Specifically I am talking about Type 1 Tankers (minimum retardant capacity of 3,000 gallons) and Type 2 Tankers retardant capacity of 1,800 gallons to 2,999 gallons). Please bear with me as I'm going to take you through the process I went through in learning about the number of Type 1 and 2 Tankers that will be or expected to be on contract here in the U.S. in 2014.

Some of you know that in prior years I have shared, when available, that year's Federal Contract Airtanker List available from the National Interagency Coordination Center's Logistics-Aviation Page. While useful information for me to have, I'm not posting the 2014 Federal Contractor Airtanker List (as of May 12, 2014) because the latest information that I found on the number of Airtankers currently or expected to be on contract this year supersedes the May 12th list.

Ok, moving on. I first learned from Fire Avaition on May 20th that the US Forest Service was adding more BAe-146 Airtankers and a DC-10 on Federal Contract this year. The US Forest Service issued a news release to that effect on May 20, 2014, also including a link to an infographic on the 2014 aerial firefighting fleet. Simply, the USFS is saying that there will be 21 large tankers on federal contract this year. Unfortunately, I could not find the infographic on the USFS site, but Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation shared a portion the infographic on Fire Aviation in another May 20th article.

In the third week of May, I knew about Neptune Aviations (6) and Minden's (1) P2-V tankers, Neptune's BAe-146 tankers (4 including one on legacy contract), Coulson's C-130Q, and the three DC-10 tankers (two on contract, one expected to be on contract later this summer). I found a nice article from the Missoulian on May 20th summarizing the USFS News Release (cited earlier) with a focus on Neptune Aviation. So, I knew that we will have 21 large Tankers (type 1 and 2 Tankers) on contract this year, that would include additional Next Generation Tankers -- Erickson Aero Tanker, Minden, and Aero Flite -- but I knew no details about the Tankers from Erickson Aero, Minden, and Aero Flite.

Fortunately I did not have to try to figure out the answers to my questions on my own as Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation posted a wonderful article on June 3rd detailing the number of tankers that are expected to be on federal contract this year along with a nice graphic where he summarizes large tankers (by vendor, type tanker number and remarks) that are or are expected to be on federal contract in 2014. If you haven't already done so, you will want to go and read Bill's article. According to Bill,

The U.S. Forest Service could have, with the stroke of a pen, a total of 23 large air tankers flying this summer. ( Number of air tankers increase for the first time since 2007 )

That would be great news to have 21 large Tankers on contracts and 2 more that could be on contract if everything works out for a total of 23 large Tankers.

Erickson Aero Tanker's T-101 went on contract on June 4 with T-105 going on contract on June 8 (See Fire Aviation's June 5th article. Bill Gabbert has provided additional coverage of Erickson Aero Tanker's MD-87 working the Two Bull's Fire in Oregon on June 8th.

Update on June 19, 2014: on Sunday night, June 15, Minden's Tanker-48 made an emergency landing in Fresno CA. The crew survived, but it is unknown how long T-48 will be out of commission. While she is out of commission, this decreases the number of available tankers by one to 20 large tankers or possibly 22 large tankers.