I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.
CAL FIRE (CDF) S2T Tanker 71 working Sawtooth Complex Fire (2006)
Sawtooth Complex Fire (Sept. 2006), San Bernardino County CA. Photo Credit: U.S. Forest Service
Showing posts with label multi-engine air tankers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label multi-engine air tankers. Show all posts
Enjoy two videos of Super Scoopers in action, both are from the 2021 fire season. For more information and specifications on the different models of CL215/415 aka Super Scoopers, see Viking Aircraft.
Take four minutes and go and check out this awesome video on Patrick's Aviation on SEATs working fires in France. Some of this is taken from the cockpit of a SEAT. You will see some footage of an AgCat shot from the SEAT cockpit. TL Stein tells me that the single-winged aircraft are an Ayers S-2R and confirmed that the bi-wing planes are AgCat G-164A's.
Evergreen International Aviationannounced on March 24, 2009(link no longer works) that its B747 supertanker received interim certification from the Interagency Air Tanker Board (IATB). IATB certification is required before an air tanker can be under federal contract. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on the 747 receiving IATB approval here.
Capable of flying at 600 mph, the 747(tail number 979) can drop more than 20,000 gallons of retardant.
The 747 recently completed what is known as a drop test. Briefly, in a drop test an air tanker (or helitanker or helicopter with bucket) flys over a cup-and-grid matrix to test the coverage level for each type of drop.
Evergreen produced a seven minute video on the 747 supertanker:
Updated on August 3, 2015: I had to delete some old and outdated links from Evergreen Aviation that no longer work. At the time I wrote this article, they had a photogallery of the 747 and a page describing her capabilities. According to Bill Gabbert's May 2nd (2014) article on Fire Aviation it seems that Evergreen has declared bankruptcy.
The first of the Very Large Airtankers (VLAT) put in service is tanker 910, first seeing service on a call when needed (CWN) contract with CAL FIRE in 2006 where it flew retardant drop missions on fires in southern California and one fire in Washington State. Tanker 910 is one of the DC-10 family of passenger jets. The first DC-10, designed and built by the Douglas Aircraft Company of Long Beach, CA, now the Long Beach Division of Boeing Commercial Airlines.
Starting in 2007, tanker 910 is under an exclusive use contract with CAL FIRE from June 15 through October 15.
Tanker 910 was modified and tested over four years by 10 Tanker Air Carrier with mostly private investment capital. Three external retardant tanks are mounted along the bottom center of the aircraft, capable of holding 12,000 gallons of retardant (50 tons!) capable of dropping a line of retardant in about eight seconds. Typical drop height is 500 ft. above ground level at about 170 mph. A crew of three -- pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer -- flies the plane working with a lead plane when drops are made. They are not as maneuverable as CAL FIRE’s S-2T working on ridge tops or flat lands. But as they carry 12,000 gallons of retardant to the S-2T’s 1,200 gallons, one of the advantages of the DC-10 is that they can save the S-2T’s for initial attack.
See this page for more specs and technical information on the aircraft. CAL FIRE’s DC-10 tanker fact sheet (requires a pdf viewer) may be found here. Wikipedia’s article on tanker 910 may be found here.
10 Tanker Air Carrier now has a second DC-10 tanker, tanker 911 that was available earlier this year for fire fighting duty. It saw service in the recent Jesusita fire.
My next post: more pictures and video of the DC-10 tankers.
The last group of air tankers that I am writing about are known as the very large airtankers (VLAT). These are DC-10’s and 747’s. There are two DC-10’s (tanker 910 and tanker 911) and one 747 (tanker 947). All three saw service as commercial passenger jets before being modified for service as very large airtankers. The two DC-10 tankers can drop 12,000 gallons of retardant and tanker 947 can drop 20,500 gallons of retardant. I will be making one or two posts on each, starting with the DC-10 tankers.
The Hawaii Mars will be under a new contract with the U.S. Forest Service this year, based at Lake Elsinore, California from June 1 through November 15, 2009. A Sikorski helicopter equipped with thermal imaging equipment will work with the Hawaii Mars filling the role of a “lead.” See this article by Bill Gabbert for more information. Bill also has a link to articles he wrote about the Martin Mars last summer when one of their tankers was based in northern California.
The Westcoaster, a newspaper based in Port Alberni, British Columbia has an article announcing the U.S. Forest Service Contract that may be found here.
For a 10 minute ride around the outside of the aircraft and a tour inside take a look at this video:
The Martin Mars, capable of landing on water, was developed for the U.S. Navy towards the end of the second World War as a transport aircraft. A total of six were built two were lost by 1950. The remaining four were retired by the U.S. Navy in 1959 and purchased by a Canadian Company known as Flying Tankers Inc. One crashed in 1961 and another was destroyed the next year in a typhoon. The remaining two, Hawaii Mars and Philippine Mars were converted for fire fighting in 1963 and are currently operated by the Coulson Group, based at Sproat Lake near Port Alberni, British Columbia.
A wikipedia article on the Martin Mars may be found here.
Each tanker is capable of carrying 7,200 gallons of water and has a 600 gallon foam tank. Finally are capable of delivering thermo-gel. Thermo-gel, also known as a water enhancer, does what its name implies. It enhances water’s suppression capabilities and is better able to coat fuels. If you are interested in reading more about water enhancers, see Fire Management Today, volume 67, issue 2. Starting on page 24, you will find a short article called: “The Latest on the evolution of chemical fire supression – water enhancers eyed for the future.” The authors include a text box with a brief description of foam, water enhancers, and retardants. The current issue of FMT along with archives of most back issues may be accessed on this USDA Forest Service webpage.
Refilling the water tanks involves “skimming” the water surface while maintaining a speed of 70 to 80 mph. Through the use of a scooping system water is injected into the tanks. It takes approximately 25 seconds to fill the water tanks. The video below shows this process:
A pilot, co-pilot and two flight engineers make up the crew of the Martin Mars.
Specifications:
Overall Length: 120 ft.
Height: 48 ft.
Wing Span: 200 ft. (61 m)
Gross Weight: 162,000 lbs. (73,483 kg)
Cruising Speed to Fire: 190 mph
Drop Speed: 138 mph
Landing Approach Speed: 115 mph
Touchdown Speed: 92 mph
Fuel Consumption (Cruise): 420 US gal
Fuel Consumption (Operations): 780 US gal
Operations Duration (normal): 5 1/2 hours
Area Covered, single drop: 3 to 4 acres
Drop Height: 150 to 200 ft.
Stay tuned for part 2 on the Martin Mars coming in a couple of days.
At the end of the season, or when maintenance on the retardant drop system is required during the season, the retardant tank is washed out. When this happens, the flapper valve and the tank doors at the bottom of the aircraft are in the open position. In addition the hotload cap is off. This allows any standing water to be vented from the system.
Here is a video of what this operation looks like:
If you have nine minutes and want to see a good video of a few S-2T's in action along at a helicopter with a bucket working fires in California, take a look at this video. SCU refers to Santa Clara Unit.
Here are a couple of very short videos of S-2T's in action. In the first video, the S-2T is working with a lead plane in the 2007 Zaca Fire in Los Padres National Forest. The first plane you see is the lead plane showing the S-2T where to make the drop. A few seconds later, the S-2T tanker flies through to make the drop.
In the second video, the S-2T tanker seems to be working with out a lead plane. At least a lead plane is not shown in the video. The last few letters in the name of this video is cut off, it is "CDF Air Tanker 78 Drops on Felter Fire/Santa Clara Unit"
When an air tanker such as an S-2T is deployed to a wildland fire, the air tanker pilot will be in touch with either the incident commander on the ground or some one known as the air tactical group supervisor (ATGS). The ATGS oversees aerial support for the fire, including retardant drops from a tactical aircraft, sometimes known as an air attack plane flying over the fire. The ATGS will be in touch with the incident commander (IC) on the ground. CAL FIRE’s tactical aircraft are known as OV-10’s and there is one OV-10 at each air attack base. The ATGS, after consulting with the IC, will give the S-2T tanker the information that s/he needs to make the drop, including but not limited to the location. In initial attack the S-2T pilot may make his own determination about the necessary settings and where to make the drop.
The settings that S-2T air tanker pilot (and other air tanker pilot’s) use for the retardant drops are on a panel on the cockpit. This is the same one pictured in the preceding post, so I will be using that picture as a reference. Perhaps you will want to open up a new window in your browser so you can look at TL Stein’s photograph and follow along.
The pilot adjusts the dial on the left to set the amount of retardant to be dropped while the dial on the right is set to determine the coverage level (also known as gpc). The coverage level is gallons of retardant per 100 square feet. Coverage levels are somewhat technical, depending on the type of vegetation on fire (fuels) and the fire behavior. The coverage settings dial is scaled from .5 to a maximum of 8 (gallons per 100 square feet). A switch known as the arm-disarm switch is set in the disarm position until it is near time to make the actual retardant drop. This prevents accidental drops. The button that the pilot pushes to make the drop, drop control switch (not pictured), is on the pilot’s control panel for ease of access. The door control (switch in the middle), is set to automatic.
Once the settings on the two dials are made, and the pilot is at or near the location and correct altitude for the drop -- 150 feet above ground level for the S2-T -- the pilot flips the arm-disarm switch to arm the system. The pilot has only to push the drop control switch at the appropriate time, the tank doors open and the drop is made. It is not merely the cockpit controls that make the retardant drop possible, there are various avionics (aviation electronics) and hydraulics that make the retardant drop possible.
If there is an emergency situation, the pilot can make an emergency retardant drop by pulling an emergency handle (not pictured).
In today’s post I am going to be writing about retardant mixing at Ryan Air Attack Base (AAB). This is possible because I have learned about retardant mixing operations at Ryan AAB from TL Stein. Moreover, Ryan has an S-2 air tanker. This provides me with a unique opportunity to link mixing retardant with a specific type of air tanker. In addition, unlike Ramona AAB which uses a mobile mixing system, Ryan AAB has a permanent mixing system. Ramona, the oldest AAB, uses a (mobile) mixing trailer because they have little room for expansion. Ryan like many other larger AAB’s use permanent mixing facilities.
Ryan Air Attack was first used as an air attack base by the USDA Forest Service in 1957 and the California Dept. of Forestry (CDF) started air attack operations at Ryan in 1959, making Ryan the first joint air attack base in the U.S. In the 1960s a permanent retardant mixing system was installed and shared by both the USDA Forest Service and the CDF (now known as CAL FIRE). In 1998 the USDA Forest Service moved their air attack base to the San Bernardino International Airport.
Thanks to TL Stein -- who made a short video on retardant mixing operations, took some photographs and gave me an excellent write up of retardant mixing at Ryan -- I am in a position to make this blog entry. The video is included in this post. After you watch this short video, I hope that you will have a good idea of how retardant mixing at Ryan works.
In addition to the video, I am including a couple of TL Stein’s photos. One is a photo of an eductor assembly at Ryan where the water and retardant pipes are labeled. As you will learn in the video, as water flows through the eductor, it creates suction in the retardant pipe. Retardant is therefore drawn into the eductor. The powdered retardant mixes with water at the point (see the photo) where the water and retardant pipes come together. From there it goes into a storage tank. The second picture is of the retardant mix control panel where the mixing operation and flow of mixed retardant to the various storage tanks on the base.
In my next post, I will write a little more about the process of loading the retardant mixture onto the S-2 and share some of TL Stein’s up close and personal photos of the S-2.
The photo is a picture that TL Stein’s Dad (TW Stein) took of the first S-2 that CDF (predecessor agency to CAL FIRE) took delivery of in February 1972. He says:
My father took this photo within an hour of it arriving from the AMARC facility. As pictured, the original fleet of S-2’s served with VT-27 “Boomers” training squadron out of Corpus Christi, Texas. One thing I remember vividly, is that one of the aircraft ferried in that morning still had a practice torpedo in the bomb bay.
I love knowing something about the history of the aircrafts that I am writing about, that there was a life before it was upgraded and retrofitted to work as an air tanker. History makes things come alive, again and again.
There are two short YouTube videos of a CAL FIRE S-2A here and here.
In the mid 1970’s CAL Fire’s fleet of air tankers were growing old and needed to be retired. These aging air tankers were replaced by newer Grumman S-2A aircraft (sometimes referred to as the S2-F1) beginning in 1975. These aircraft were used from the from the mid-1950s to the mid to late 1970s by the U.S. Navy for surveillance. The S-2A’s used by CAL FIRE were modified for use as civilian air tankers. The last of CAL FIRE’s S-2A air tankers was retired in 2005.
For a short history of the military service of the aircraft that is also known as the Grumman S2-F, the S-2 Tracker Museum has a webpage on it’s history. When you get to the home page, click on the “history” link at the top of the page.
By the mid-1990’s the fleet of S-2A’s had been in service for about 20 years, CAL FIRE began to prepare to retire the S-2A fleet. A decision was made to replace the S-2A’s with what CAL FIRE calls model S-2E/G series aircraft. Without getting into the complexities of changing model numbers over time, let’s just say that these were later variations of the Grumman S2-F aircraft. CAL FIRE acquired at least 23 S-2E/G aircraft from the Department of Defense. Marsh Aviation made extensive modifications to the S-2E/G aircraft including: adding a 1,200 gallon constant flow retardant tank, new turboprop engines, new avionics, and new electronics. CAL FIRE has 23 of these air tankers that they call S-2T’s. By 2005 the last three S-2T air tankers were delivered. Twenty-two are stationed around the state at CAL FIRE air attack bases and one is used for maintenance relief. CAL FIRE has a fact sheet on the S-2T air tanker that may be found here. The CAL FIRE Pilots Association has a nice map of CAL FIRE’s air attack bases that includes links for more information on each base, it may be found at this location.
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.
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.
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.
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.
