Wildfires invoke fear in the hearts of homeowners and those that pine over the loss of another ecosystem, national park, and perhaps even lives. So, when rescue arrives on both the ground and in the air, hope is restored. For us in the pilot group, the airborne firebombers are true saviors of our environment! Whether it’s the World War II- and Korean War-era heavy tankers, amphibians, modified crop dusters, or helicopters that douse fires with slurry, the pilots at the helm are the unsung heroes of aviation, on a mission to fight wildfire wars.Allow me to paint a picture of the recent activity of fixed-wing air tankers since 2002: That year, there were two large, multiengine air tankers—a Lockheed C130A and a Consolidated Bultee PB4Y-2 Privateer—that suffered wing losses while they were delivering retardant. These inflight structural breakups resulted in the death of all five air crew members. There was also a helicopter crash due to engine failure that killed the pilot. In September 2008, there was an engine failure and crash of a P2V after takeoff from Reno-Stead with fatalities. And in April 2009, there was the loss of another P2V and crew in the mountains of Utah.

There have been crashes and fatalities in the fleets of these airborne firefighters nearly every year for the past 40 years. The government and industry experts conducted a study as a response to a particularly deadly 2002 fire season, and a five-member Blue Ribbon Commission set out to determine a “safe and effective future aviation program. The Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations pointed at the safety, airworthiness, and training of the firebomber fleets. Unfortunately, little has been done with the recommendations, aside from grounding a significant portion of these aging aircraft that the owners can no longer afford to operate due to the tremendous capital investments required to maintain the aircraft to withstand the brutal structural fatigue encountered as fire bombers.As a result, from a high of 47 aircraft under contract with the USFS in recent years, there are now only 19 large air tankers available to protect our nation’s forests and wild lands from wildfires. The USFS acknowledges a deficit in their large air tanker fleet. Currently, outside of the state of California, there are only four operators of large category aircraft. Many operators have recently closed their operations due to the tremendous cost of maintaining a fleet of old aircraft. Keep in mind that most of these original aircraft were converted from airplanes built 50 and 60 years ago. Parts for them are difficult to find and expensive to maintain. California operates a fleet of S2Ts and then adds additional aircraft such as DC-10s and amphibians when necessary.

Bring in the Big Guns

With this insight of vanishing capability, a rather visionary company in Victorville, Calif., 10 Tanker Air Carrier, is leading the way to develop a replacement heavy air tanker capability with modified DC-10 aircraft. I had an opportunity to speak with the company’s managing partner, Rick Hatton.The story of 10 Tanker Air Carrier began in 2002, with a government Request For Information (RFI) about future air tanker projects. Hatton and his partners envisioned that the DC-10 would be a valuable tool to assist firefighting agencies. With the benefit of some high-fidelity simulation at an airline training facility, he was able to validate that the DC-10 would be able to fly the proper profiles for airdrop of the fire retardant, as directed by the firefighting agency. As of this summer, 10 Tanker Air Carrier is in its fourth firefighting season, having flown 265 missions with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).Of course, the contribution of the DC-10 has been enormous, and you can just imagine the thrill of watching it approach your burning house and drop its load with the thundering blast from its engines and bright orange plume less than 500 feet away. Hatton concedes that there are challenges with bringing the DC-10 into the tightly knit community of aviation firefighters. The perceptions of differing tactics of a very large DC-10, as compared to a P-3 or SEAT (crop-duster-style single engine) and helicopter can be huge to overcome. However, as the DC-10 proves its worth, CalFire and the community are witnessing its value and are willing to mix them in with the traditional fleets.

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