I want to write about the US Forest Service Airtankers on contract with the US Forest Fire Service in 2023. I am only able to do this because of the work of Fire Aviation in their June 2, 2023 article (which may be updated as time goes on). What I write here is current on July 5th and I am copying some information from my Airtankers 101 page. I refer you to the June 2, 2023 Fire Aviation article for more thorough information and a chart listing the tankers on contract. To sum up:
The US Forest Service has twelve air tankers on Exclusive Use Contracts with an estimated 160 days of mandatory availability ranging from a start date of March 16 to May 27 2023. Estimated ending dates of the mandatory availability period range from September 17 to November 30, 2023
- 1 DC-10 tankers (10 Tanker)
- 1 B737 (Coulson)
- 2 MD-87 tankers (Aero Air)
- 4 RJ85 tankers (Aero Flite)
- 4 BAe tankers (Neptune Aviation)
Call When Needed Activations:
- 1 DC-10 tanker (10 Tanker), mandatory availability ends on October 3, 2023
- 2 CL-415 scoopers from Aero Flite mandatory availability ends on September 23, 2023
Here is some information I have on my Airtankers 101 page with a little more information about the contractor and their airtankers on USFS contract.
Contractors with large and very large airtankers and Scoopers that have contracts with the US Forest Fire Service in 2023. Some contractors have other types of tankers in their fleet.
- 10 Tanker DC-10 tankers has four DC-10 tankers as of July 2023 that carry 9,400 gallons of retardant each, go to this 10 Tanker page to download a fact sheet with more information
- Coulson Aircrane, Coulson has a Facebook Page. Among the aircraft they fly on fires is the C-130Q, 4,000 gallons and a 737 Fireliner (I believe but am not certain it carries 4,000 gallons) You can read about the Coulson fleet here.
- Aero Flite Inc. has RJ-85 tankers. Each tanker can carry 3,000 gallons of retardant. Aero Flite also has CL-415 scoopers that can carry 1,621 gallons of water and 90 gallons of foam
- Aero Air, LLC. Aero Air flies the MD-87 airtanker Aero Air wholly owns Ericsson Aero Tanker. Ericsson Aero Tankers has MD-87 tankers with a capacity of 3,000 gallons of retardant.
- Neptune Aviation has a fleet of nine BAe-146 tankers each can carry 3,000 gallons of retardant.
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