Friday Fun: MAFFS Aerial Firefighting Training

Direct link to video from the Daily-Military on YouTube

Enjoy this video of C-130 Hercules planes equipped with the Modular Airborne Firefighting System (AKA MAFFS) doing training including working with a lead plane. The footage is from the Daily-Military

First of Seven C-130s Ready to Fly Fires for Cal Fire

Direct link to Cal Fire video on YouTube

I have know for a few years that Cal Fire took delivery of seven C-130s that were retired from other government service. These C-130s will be converted to fly fires along with other repairs, see for example this March 2024 article on Fire Aviation. I try to monitor various pages on Facebook of air tanker contractors as well as some state and federal agencies. I noted this Aug 26th post from CAL FIRE reporting that the first of seven C-130H airtankers went into service that day, sharing the video that I embedded above from Cal Fire's YouTube page. 

I thank Mike Archer from the Wildfire News of the Day newsletter for sharing this August 26th news release from Gov. Newsome's office on the C-130H air tankers that includes the above video as well as a link to a C-130H fact sheet as well as a video (not on YouTube) of the first drop of the C-130H. The first C-130H will be based at McClellan Airtanker base.

Some facts about the C-130H:

• range loaded of 800 miles, no load of 3,000 miles
• tank capacity of 4,000 gallons of retardant
• four Allison T56-A-15 turboprops. Each turboprop produces 4,300 horsepower
• requires a pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer

DC-10 and USFS C-130 arriving at Santa Maria Tanker Base

Thanks to Mike Archer at WNOTD for steering me to a nice story from KSBY with a video about the arrival of T-116, a USFS C-130 at Santa Maria Tanker Base. The C-130s were based out of Sacramento, but with the closure of that tanker base, the USFS C-130 will be based out of Santa Maria. She arrived last Saturday, joining one the 10 Tanker Carriers DC-10s which has been based out of Santa Maria for the last couple of years. Because of the wet winter, the fire season in California is expected to start later and last longer. T-116 and the DC-10 tanker (T-911?) will provide important aerial support to wildland firefighters on the ground fighting wildfires this season. Go here for the story and accompanying video. I am sorry that I could not get the embed code to work, which may be for the best as I am never sure how long videos from local media will be live.

Coulson Aviation USA- C-130Q

direct link to video (end of 2013 season highlights)

Coulson's C-130Q next generation tanker, T-131 (tank capacity of 3,500 gallons), began flying fires in September 2013, see this article from the Times Alberni Valley (9/18/13). 

In preparing this article, I found a couple of sources of information about Coulson's C-130Q tanker. The first is an interview with Wayne Coulson (of Coulson Aviation USA) by Tony Morris on Associated Aerial Firefighters (8/21/13) including a discussion of the tank system and specifications of the C-130Q (Tanker 131). According to Coulson, 

the desired drop speed is 124 to 130 kts. … The desired drop height is approximately 200 ft.

The second document is a presentation Wayne Coulson made on October 22, 2013 at the 2013 Hercules Operators Council, the presentation is chock full of all kinds of information about the C-130Q tanker and is found here (pdf file for download).

Finally, here are a couple of more links on the C-130Q tanker that I referenced in my Airtankers 101 page that you might want to check out:

• Photos of Coulson's C-130Q support truck on Fire Aviation (7/15/13)
• Canadian Skies on Coulsons C-130Q (September 2013).

C-130 MAFFS II: 2nd generation MAFFS

Aero Union, under contract with the USDA Forest Service has developed a new, 2nd general MAFFS unit. Called the Airborne Fire Fighting System (AFFS) by the contractor, these eight new units will be referred to as MAFFS-2 after the units have been delivered and are operational, military and Forest Services documents will refer to them as MAFFS2. Two of the new MAFFS2 units were tested in California in 2007, see this Aero Union press release.

Unlike the 1st generation MAFFS units that could only be used on C-130’s E and H models equipped with the US Air Force 463L cargo handling system, MAFFS-2 units can be used on C-130 models E, H, and J without special modification, i.e. no cargo handling systems required. This means that the military has more flexibility in assigning C-130’s for MAFFS duty.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on January 28, 2009 that the Forest Service has accepted delivery of two new MAFFS units for operation by the Air National Guard (ANG) of Port Hueneme, CA. The ANG has begun training with these units.

The discharge tube of the MAFFS-2 fits through a port in the side “paratrooper” door of the C-130 allowing all doors to be closed and the cabin pressurized. This also makes for a cleaner aircraft inside and out. And the loadmaster does not have a uniform covered with the red goo.

There are three more important upgrades in the MAFFS-2 unit: (1) one retardant tank instead of five, (2) on board air compressor to recharge the pressurized tank, and (3) the tank holds 3,400 gallons of retardant. Like the 1st generation MAFFS, the MAFFS-2 is loaded onto the C-130 through the rear cargo door, and the module includes the loadmaster’s station.

For a short video of a C-130 MAFFS-2, go here. Windows media player is required to view this video, or if you have a Mac you will need a plug-in or media player that will allow you to play windows media files.

There is a nice, easy to follow presentation on the MAFFS-2 unit see this pdf file. I have tried to provide the salient details of the MAFFS-2 unit here, you may want to take a look at this file to learn more about the MAFFS-2.

For those of you who may prefer not to download the pdf file, the Forest Service has a MAFFS-2 webpage that includes several captioned pictures from the pdf file as well as a link to a short video of a MAFFS-2 equipped C-130 making a practice drop (this is the video I referred you to earlier), and a power point version of the pdf file.

C-130 MAFFS: more information

I was working on my next and final article on the C-130 MAFFS program when I found a nice short article by the National Park Service on the MAFFS program, it may be found here.

Finally, as I was wondering around you tube a little while ago, I found two videos (parts 1 and 2) of the role of MAFFS's in providing aerial support for the 2008 wildfires in California. This was the first time in twenty years that all eight MAFFS outfitted C-130's were deployed to California.

part 1loading, pre-flight, and take-off.

part 2, cockpit shots and shot from rear of a drop.

Tomorrow I will be writing about the 2nd generation MAFFS unit.

C-130 MAFFS: retardant drop

The loadmaster, who sits at the loadmaster station on the MAFFS module in the cargo area in the back of the tanker works with the co-pilot in making the drop. You may recall from my earlier post, that the retardant flows through two discharge tubes that stick out the rear cargo doors of the aircraft. This means that cargo doors are left open and the load master wears a safety harness tethered to the rear of the plane. When it comes time to make the drop, the loadmaster monitors and then arms the system using the master control panel at the loadmaster station. It is the co-pilot, sitting in the cockpit, who pushes “the button” to drop the load.

The C-130 MAFFS works with what is known as a lead plane in making the drop. The lead plane flies as close as 1,000 feet in front of the tanker showing the path and height that the tanker will fly in making the drop. There is a nice article an the CAL FIRE MAFFS webpage about the role of lead planes in MAFFS missions. The article is called “exactly who is leading this mission”, it may be found here. Both civilian air tanker and military MAFFS pilots train with a lead plane every year.

To see a short you tube video on a C-130 MAFFS working with a lead plane go here.

C-130 MAFFS: activation

I believe that there are a total of four reserve/national guard bases, each with two C-130’s capable of being fitted with the MAFFS unit. This makes a total of eight C-130 MAFFS. One base is in North Carolina, and three are are out west. with California, Wyoming, and Colorado having one base each.

Before one or more C-130 MAFFS units are activated for wildfire fighting duty, the request has to go through a certain chain of command, so to speak. The incident commander in charge of a fire contacts his or her superior (department head) requesting type 1 air tankers (type 1 air tankers are the class of air tankers capable of dropping 3,000 gallons of retardant. The department head approves the request for type 1 air tankers and forwards the request to the state or regional forester. If the fire is on either privately owned land or State owned land than the request goes through the state forester. If, on the other hand, the fire is on land under federal control, then the request goes through the regional forester. The state or regional forester approves the request and passes it on to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

The NIFC is responsible for deciding what civilian contracted air tankers to send to the fire. If no civilian air tankers under national contract are available in the region the NIFC will look to see if any civilian air tankers under nationwide contract are available. If all are committed to fires or otherwise unavailable, the NIFC then goes through military channels to contact the U.S. Air Force to request C-130 MAFFS air tankers.

Once the request is approved at the appropriate military level, the closest reserve unit with MAFFS capabilities is order to mobilize and sent to the fire.

C-130 history

I was going through my C-130 data a few minutes ago and found a nice write-up on the history of the C-130 here.

Coming up: more MAFFS and S-2 (CAL Fire)

I thought it might be helpful to some of you to know what I plan to write about next.

I have two more posts planned on the MAFFS: (1) activation, lead planes, and drops; and (2) the new MAFFS II unit.

I will then move on to CAL FIRE's S-2 in a series of what I hope will be five posts:

1. specs, history, location CAL FIRE Air Attack Bases
2. S-2's in action
3. pictures (hopefully)
4. end of season maintenance

C-130 MAFFS: MAFFS unit

The MAFFS unit was developed for Lockheed C-130 Hercules models E and H equipped with what is known as the US Air Force 463L cargo handling system.

The module, weighing 11,000 pounds, has:

1. five retardant tanks and one compressed air pressurized tank (1,200 psi)
2. loadmaster seat -- works the master control panel for the retardant drop
3. master control panel
4. two discharge tubes
5. electric power to the module is supplied by the aircraft or a 24 volt battery on the control panel

For more information, see this article about the MAFFS program on the USFS website and this wikipedia article. A photo of a C-130 MAFFS may be found here.

The five tanks hold 3,000 gallons of retardant that can be discharged in eight seconds. There is a nice video on you tube showing scenes from the rear of the aircraft as a drop is being made, as well as reloading retardant at the AAB, that may be found here. Reload time is eight minutes.

The pressurized tank on the module is recharged at the Air Attack Base (AAB) by means of a special air compressor module that remains at the base. I believe that every base has an industrial sized air compressor. Once fitted with the right fittings, the compressor can be used to recharge the compressed air tank on the C-130. Under this scenario, the air compressor does not have to travel with the C-130.

Twenty-four hours are required to outfit the C-130 with the MAFFS as well as pulling together the required support systems including the military pilots, some ground crew, supplies and equipment. To get an idea of how the MAFFS unit is loaded onto the aircraft see this you tube video. Base personnel at the host AAB will augment the military ground crew that arrives with the C-130.

The two discharge valves extend out the rear door of the aircraft. This means that once the MAFFS unit is set up that the rear cargo doors are left open during the entire mission, which could last two or more weeks. In an emergency, the crew may need to dump the retardant as a safety measure. The loadmaster wears a safety harness teathered to the aircraft to prevent a fall outside the rear of the plane. The plane is flying at a low enough altitude during the drop so that supplemental oxygen is not required.

C-130 MAFFS: history and specs

In the early 1970s a number of serious wild fires in Southern California resulting in significant property damage overwhelmed the then existing civilian air tanker flee. The U.S. Congress wanted to address this problem so they asked the U.S. Air Force to serve in a back-up capacity when all civilian air tankers were committed or otherwise unavailable. These Congressional actions resulted in a joint effort between the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve where military C-130’s are fitted with a modular airborne firefighting system (MAFFS).

I will be writing more about the MAFFS unit, as well as the activation, load and deployment of the C-130s in subsequent posts. Briefly, only when all civilian air tankers are either committed to initial attack or extended attack incidents, or are otherwise unavailable can C-130 MAFFS air tankers be requested. A 24-hour lead time is required to outfit the military C-130 with the MAFFS unit before the tanker is deployed to a fire. The C-130 is a transport or cargo plane, and the MAFFS unit fits into the back of the cargo area with two pipes sticking out of the back of the aircraft. The C-130 MAFFS is able to drop up to 3,000 gallons of retardant.

Specifications:
engines: four turboprops (two on each wing)
length (ft): 99
wing span (ft): 133
turn radius (ft): 80
cruise speed (mph): 275
gross weight (lbs): 156,000
range loaded (st. miles) 1,500
contract operating weight: 105,553
retardant load (gallons): 3,000
number of gates: 1