About the Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87

It is way past time for me to write more about the current fleet of airtankers that have been under contract (exclusive use and call when needed) in the United States.

For no particular reason other then coming across a video of one of Erickson Aero Tanker's MD-87's arriving in western Australia to fight bush fires, I am starting with the Erickson Aero Tanker's MD-87.

Erickson Aero Tanker, wholly owned by Aero Air LLC, currently has five MD-87 air tankers. In addition, they have two more MD-87 that are ready to convert to tanker configuration. The MD-87, part of the MD-80 series, started out as an airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The MD-80 series is an updated version of the DC-9. See this wikipedia article for more information on the MD-80 series and this airliner dot net article on the MD-87.

Specifications

• retardant capacity: 3,000 gallons
• cruise speed: 450 knots
• drop speed: 135 to 140 knots
• two retardant loading ports
• 900 mile loaded strike range
• See Erickson Aero Tanker FAQ. for more information as well as the home page of Erickson Aero Tanker 

According to Bill Gabbert's January 16th Fire Aviation article on U.S.tankers deployed to Australia to help with their current bush fire season, two of Erickson's MD-87's (T-102 and T-103) are be based at Perth in Western Australia. 

The first video is of T-102 dropping on a fire, I am not sure of the location. The second video is from 9NewsPerth reporting on the arrival of T-102. Note that 3,000 gallons is equivalent to about 11,350 litres

Direct link to video

Direct link to video from 9NewsPerth