2024 Wildfire Season: Neptune Aviation Training for Upcoming Wildfire Season

Over the last several days Neptune Aviation Services tanker pilots and their fleet of BAe 146 aircraft and lead planes have been undergoing training in preparation for the upcoming wildfire season. I do not know when the first of Neptunes BAe 146 air tankers goes on contract, probably soon.

Enjoy these short posts from Neptunes Facebook Page

Revisiting Neptune Aviation and their BAe-146 air tankers

Sometime around 2010 I first learned about the BAe-146 where one BAe-146 airplane was being developed by Tronos and later delivered to Neptune Aviation. Bill Gabbert of WildfireToday reported on September 23, 2011 that the BAe-146 received interim approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board, he also provides some basic information about the BAe-146 and some links. I believe but am not certain that by 2015 Neptune Aviation may have had at least one BAe-146 air tanker under contract with the US Forest Service. I have no specific information on Neptune's contracts with the US Forest Service and other agencies from 2015 to 2020, but to the best of my knowledge Neptune Aviation has had contracts (exclusive use and call when needed) with the US Forest Service since then. I have no specific information about 2022 contracts, but according to Neptune Aviation's Neptune Today page (accessed on August 24, 2022) 

In 2021 Neptune Aviation provided four airtankers on Exclusive Use Contracts with the USFS, three airtankers on Call When Needed Contracts with the USFS, one airtanker on Exclusive Use Contract with CalFire, and one airtanker on Exclusive Use Contract with the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control. Neptune Aviation also had Call When Needed Contracts in Australia and Chile.

For specifications on Neptunes BAe-146 see Neptune's fact sheet on the BAe-146  (accessed August 24, 2022). Briefly, according to the fact sheet, the Bae-146 can carry up to 3,000 gallons of retardant, with a cruising speed of 400 knots, and a range of 1,100 nautical miles. For those of you who are interested, I shared a cockpit tour of the BAe-146 by Blancolirio on October 6, 2021, I learned of this video on Neptune's Facebook page.  I am embedding it below for your convenience.

Neptune Aviation has a very nice webpage with good information that you may want to spend time exploring, Neptune has a Facebook page that I believe is freely available without a Facebook account. Bill does a great job of reporting on Neptune Aviation in Fire Aviation and Wildfire Today, his Fire Aviation articles tagged BAe-146 may be found here and on the main page of either Wildfire Today or Fire Aviation you will see that he has a search function with filters that I myself have used and found it very useful, for example when I want to easily review the history of certain air tankersI myself have written some articles about the BAe-146 that I have tagged but Bill has far more articles than I do. 

BAe-146 retardant drop (Billings MT)

I sometimes like to post aviation videos on Friday. Today I wanted to share a video of an air tanker drop, one that I had not shared previously. I found this video of a BAe-146 airtanker working with a lead plane on a wildfire north of Billings, Montana. I am not sure the date of this drop, that does not matter. Enjoy this video uploaded by TC's Aviation Studio.

Direct link to video on YouTube uploaded by TC's Aviation Studio.

Airtankers: A tour of Neptune BAe-146 tanker 01

 Enjoy this nice video, about three minutes, from August Complex Fire 2020 of a tour of Neptune Aviation's BAe-146 tanker 01. I enjoyed this video, released in September 2020. I do not think that I have shared this video here, and if I have, it is definitely worth seeing again. To learn more about Neptune Aviation, you might want to spend some time on their website, which may be found here.

Direct link to video on YouTube from August Complex Fire 2020

Neptune Aviation's BAe-146 Tanker: a cockpit tour

I am always interested in tanker and helo videos that take me up close and personal into their operations on a wildfire. I found a nice YouTube by Blancolirio video courtesy of Neptune Aviation's Facebook Page (they have great photos). From time to time I have seen some of Blancolirios videos and Youtube and have enjoyed them. So when I saw that Neptune Aviation had shared his video of a cockpit tour of their BAe-146, I knew that I had to check it out and share it with you. Allow a little less than eight minutes to watch the video.

Direct link to video on YouTube by Blancolirio

Reflections on Neptune Aviation's BAe-146 Air Tanker

Direct link to video on Youtube

I wrote a reflection piece the other day (April 1st) on the Lockheed P2-V air tanker, where I wrote that Neptune Aviation was the last contractor in the United States to have the P2-V on national contract. It seems appropriate to transition from Neptune Aviation's older fleet of P2-V's to their new fleet of BAe-146 air tankers. Neptune Aviation first flew a BAe-136, T-40, on a wildfire in Texas in November of 2011 and T-40 first went on a national contract here in the United States in 2012, see my January 2012 article, note Minden no longer has a BAe-146 program, (see Bill Gabbert's Bill Gabbert's December 2018 Fire Aviation article article on Fire Aviation).

Over the past eight years, I have seen a few videos and read of the fine work that Neptune's BAe-146 tankers have done flying wildfires. Neptune now was nine BAe-146 tankers. four of whom will be on an exclusive use contract in 2020. Neptune had four BAe-146 tankers on exclusive use contracts and four on a call when needed contract (see December 11, 2019 and March 26th articles on Fire Aviation for more information on the 2019 and 2020 tanker contracts). Neptune's BAe-146 tankers carry 3,000 gallons of retardant. Neptune has a nice photo gallery from the 2018 fire season that may be found here.

Here is a video from the AOPA where you may learn a little more about Neptune's VAe-146 tankers.


Direct link to AOPA video on Youtube

Neptune Aviation Tankers with some SEATs

I have been writing this blog on aerial wildland firefighting for almost ten years now. I began writing about wildfires in fall of 2008 moving into learning about and writing about tankers and helicopters used to fight wildfires in early 2009. When I was first wrote about airtankers in 2009, among the tankers that I first learned about were Neptune Aviation's P-2V tankers and Aero Union's P-3 tankers. Both of these contractors had Exclusive Use Contracts with the US Forest Service in those days. The US Forest Service terminated it's contract with Aero Union's P-3 tankers in August 2011.

Neptune Aviation is still around but the last of their Lockheed P-2V Tankers retired at the end of the 2017 season. Neptune Aviation started flying BAe-146 tankers a few years, now their entire tanker fleet are BAe-146 tankers.

For no particular reason, I have been thinking of the Neptune Aviation tankers that I have known, the now retire P-2V tanker and the BAe-146 tankers. So I am sharing some videos with you today, with some SEATs thrown in. Gotta love the very versatile SEATs.


Direct link to video


Direct link to video


Direct link to video


Direct link to video


Direct link to video

aerial firefighting: MAFFs, SEATs, and Helicopters

I had shared three videos here in October 2018 of MAFFs, SEATs, and Helicopters working wildfires. Unfortunately, all three videos are no longer available.

A look inside an Airtanker courtesy of a Tanker Captain

I was checking out yesterday's (August 2nd) Wildfire News of the Day from Mike Archer when I came upon an article with a video on Inside an Airtanker from KDRV Newswatch 12 out of Medford Oregon. In this video you will Captain Ron Minter of Neptune Aviation talk about the demands of being a Tanker pilot. Captain Minter and his co-pilot have had a long season, flying since February 28, 2017. They get one day off a week, at where ever their current base is.

Captain Minter and his co-pilot were flying the Modoc July Complex (just south of the Oregon-California border at the time of the KDRV report, based at Medford (OR) Airtanker Base. Medford was very busy at the time of this report. You might recall that a NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMET) Trainee was deployed to the Modoc July Complex on July 31st. As I write this, the Modoc July Complex has burned 73,735 acres and is at 35% containment. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has written about the Modoc July Complex, go to his August 2nd article with links to his earlier articles for more information. You might also be interested in KDRV's August 2nd article on the Modoc July Complex (with a couple of photos).

I could not get the embed code that KDRV supplied with the video to work, I am sorry. That happens sometimes. Here is a direct link to the two-minute video from KDRV, I encourage you to take a couple of minutes to watch the video.

Edited on November 26, 2021: I just today noticed that the KDRV report with video on "Inside an Airtanker (Neptune Aviation BAe-146) is no longer available. I have noted that often media outlets remove their reports after a certain amount of time has passed. I apologize for not mentioning this in my original post.

Neptune's BAe 146 Tankers

It is one of those rare perfect summer days in northwest New Jersey, temps in the low 80s with low dew points. So I took a little play time today. Hope that those of you who are able are taking some time off during the summer.

Anyway, I don't know about you, but I love hanging out and watching airplanes landing and taking off. One of the great things about the internet is that I can partake in watching tankers landing and taking off courtesy of many fine videos on Youtube. Today, I am sharing a video of Neptunes BAe-146 Tankers 1 & 2 working out of Boise, Idaho on August 26, 2015, uploaded by airailimages. Enjoy!

About Neptune Aviation in 2015

Neptune Aviation has submitted a bid for the current round of Next Generation large firefighting aircraft. They expect to have six BAe-146 tankers ready to fly fires by June. It is anticipated that awards under this contract will be awarded in early May witht the expectation that tankers under this contract will be ready to fly in the first day of the mandatory availability period. Please this April 2nd article from The Missouian for more information.

Neptune Aviation has six P2-V Neptunes and one BAe-146 tanker on contract under a Legacy Contract with the US Forest Service (Fire Aviation on March 25, 2015 and November 23, 2014

Here are two videos from Neptune Aviation that I thought you might enjoy looking at.

I shared this 2014 video from Neptune Aviation in a video of the week post sometime last year. I don't know about you, but I like reruns. Great airplanes with a nice soundtrack.


direct link to Neptune Aviation video on Youtube

And here is the 2015 video from Neptune Aviation, just published April 6, 2015


direct link to Neptune Aviation video on Youtube

Braynt Fire (OR) - Tanker activity

Some of you will recall that from the end of 2009 into the first 2010, I wrote several articles on DC-7 tanker 62 thanks to the help of her Captain, Larry Kraus (Thanks Larry!) and several more articles with photos or videos on DC-7 tankers in action may be found here. You could say that I have a special fondness of the DC-7 tankers so I am always on the look out for any news about the sevens, especially T-62.

Over the weekend I first heard about the Bryant Fire (inch web), started on Thursday, June 19 that has burned 1,361 acres and is at 45 percent containment as I write this. You might also want to read updates on the Bryant Fire from the Oregon Dept. of Forestry (ODF), where the latest ODF update was posted at 8AM PDT on June 23.

Around the same time, I heard from a couple of reliable sources that T-62 had flown the Bryant Fire. I have no specific information to link to regarding tanker 62's activities on the fire. But I do know from reading the ODF June 22 blog entry about tanker and helo activity over the Bryant Fire on Saturday, June 21st:

sixteen loads of retardant were dropped from large air tankers and eight loads were dropped from small Single Engine Airtankers known as SEATs. Helicopters were extremely busy all day long responding to fire fighters requests for drops on the hottest spots.

The inciweb photo page for the Bryant Fire has a couple of photos of Neptune's BAe-146 T-10 dropping on the fire.

Here are a couple of articles on the Bryant Fire from local media outlets:

• OregonLive (June21st)
• Statesman Journal (June 23rd)
• Oregon Live (June 23rd)

Other Links

• Wildfire Today on Bryant Fire
• Wildland Fire Hotlist QandA on Bryant Fire
• Wildland Fire Hotlist Initial Attack Thread on Bryant Fire

Neptune Aviation and Next Gen Contract

I admit that I am rather late in writing that on December 12, 2013 Neptune Aviation was awarded a sole-source to provide two 3,000 gallon BAe-146  jet tankers effective 2014. It is a four year contract with the option for five one-year extensions. My understanding is that the tank systems on the jets under this contract are not the same tank systems used by T-40 and T-41 in 2013. These "new" jets have reconfigured tanks. For more information see a Dec. 13, 2103 article in the Missouian and this Dec. 12. 2103 article on Fire Aviation.

For details and more documentation on the contract go to this page on the General Services Administration website.

Updated on January 8, 2014. I just found out that Neptune Aviation's contract is under protest, I wrote about it here. 

Elegance in Action: Tankers over Nevada Widlfires

And now for something beautiful and elegant, airtankers in action. In this video from airailimages you will see one of Neptunes BAe-146 tankers, some seats, and a Neptune P-2V dropping on a fire near Winnemucca NV on July 3, 2013. The videographer is Frederick Johnsen.

I recently saw this video on Fire Aviation, loved it and am sharing it with you.



direct link to video

Neptune to acquire 11 BAe-146 jet aircraft

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported yesterday that Neptune Aviation is going to acquire 11 more BAe-146 aircraft for conversion to tankers and is planning to retire all the P2V from fire fighting by 2021. Bill has included a copy of Neptune's press release announcing same in his article.

Michael Archer of the Firebomber Publications Blog included an article reporting on Neptune's plans to acquire additional BAe-146 jet aircraft on April 21.

More news on BAe-146 tankers

In late September BAe-146, T-40 (Neptune Aviation and Tronos) received interim approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board. A few days later, T-40 was on her way to Texas. T-40 is a jet powered aircraft that can carry 3,000 gallons of retardant.

On January 2, The Missoulian reported that the US Forest Service has contracted for T-40 for one year. You may recall that the USFS will contract for turbine (jet) tankers in 2012.

There is one more BAe-146 tanker ready for testing this month, this one owned and operated by Minden Air. Further, Minden has a second BAe-146 that they will convert to a tanker after the first one is done. Bill Gabbert of wildfire today reports on Minden's BAe-146 tankers as well as the contract for T-40 here. Bill also reports that one of Minden's two P-2V tankers will go on contract in February with their second tanker going on contract in April.


MInden Air has a webpage devoted to their BAe-146.

T-40 going to Texas

This just in, the Missoulian is reporting that Neptune's BAe-146 T-40 is, or will be soon, on her way to fly wildfires in Texas. T-40 is jet powered and can carry at least 3,000 gallons of retardant. You will want to read the article, and watch a video shot from iside T-40, on this this Missoulian webpage.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports on T-40's activation here.

This just in - BAe-146 receives interim approval

This just in from Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today. Bill just wrote that BAe-146 tanker 40 (Neptune Aviation and Tronos) has received interim approval from the Interagency Air Tanker Board, go here to read Bill's article.

Awesome!

British Aerospace BAe-146 and Berieve Be-200

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has recently reported on the status of two fixed-wing aircraft that might have implications for aerial wildland firefighting here in America: the British Aerospace BAe-146-200 and the Russian Berieve Be-200. Some of you may already be familiar with these developments, either through Bill's reporting or from other sources. I found these articles of interest, and am passing them on to you.

Bill reported in an article posted on March 28 that Tronos has converted a British Aerospace BAe146-200 for use as an air tanker. The tanker, which made a drop on a fire in Prince Edward Island Canada last August October has retardant tanks capable of holding 3,000 gallons of retardant. Bill also reports that Minden Air is in the process of converting another BAe-146 for use as a tanker. You will want to see Bill's article located here for more details, including information on approvals and certifications that have to happen before this tanker can fly in the U.S.

And those of you in California may get a chance to see the Russian Berieve Be-200 air tanker, an amphibious aircraft. The Be-200 is scheduled to appear at the Santa Maria (CA) airport for one week starting April 10. If approvals are obtained, plans call for a demonstration of the Be-200 in action, scooping water from Lake Cachuma and then making a demo drop. Negotiations between the U.S. and Russian governments, facilitated by David Baskett of Santa Maria, are ongoing. Mr. Baskett hopes to acquire 10 of these aircraft for eventual use as air tankers in America.

The Be-200 cleared customs in Alaska last week on its way to South America for a tour before a planed re-entry into the U.S. For more details, including some links to youtube videos of the Be-200 in action, see this article written by Bill Gabbert on Wildfire Today. Bill also noted that a website has been set up for the visit of the Be200.

I'd like to thank Bill for his blog, and for his good write-up on what is happening with both of these aircraft. I was aware of the pending visit of the Be-200 but other projects kept me from finding out more details. Then I saw Bill's article, along his article on the BAe-146, making my life easy! Thanks Bill!