DC-10 air tanker activated

Tanker 910, a DC-10,
Tanker 910, a DC-10,
Tanker 910, a DC-10, at Rapid City, April 23, 2013. Photo by Bill Gabbert. (click to enlarge)

One of the DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers has been activated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CAL FIRE. Rick Hatton, President of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, the company that operates the two DC-10 air tankers, confirmed for us today that it will come on duty tomorrow, May 4. He said most likely the one they will use will be Tanker 910, the aircraft that visited four cities last week on the way back from scheduled maintenance in Michigan.

The DC-10s always carry 11,600 gallons of retardant. The average load of the Korean War vintage P2Vs, which make up the bulk of the federal fleet, is less than 2,000 gallons.

Neither CAL FIRE nor the U.S. Forest Service have exclusive use contracts for the DC-10s, so they operate on a call-when-needed basis, which results in a slower activation, higher per day costs, and less assurance that they will be available.

The USFS call-when-needed and exclusive use contracts for Very Large and Large air tankers all expired on December 31, 2012, but some were extended for a few months. Several weeks ago the agency awarded eight new exclusive use contracts for large “legacy” air tankers, with seven of them being Korean War vintage P2Vs, but it has been 520 days since they first began an attempt to contract for large “next generation” air tankers, with no results yet.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

5 thoughts on “DC-10 air tanker activated”

  1. We are spending money on all these CWN and MAFFS aircraft when the next gen contractors aircraft sit unused. They have invested millions only to wait for the long delayed award while others fly.

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  2. Thanks for the update, Bill!

    Good news for 10 Tanker LLC….not so much for those higher CWN costs

    Right now the Agencies must think they are money ahead….might be so…..

    2013 is heating up ………so is the cost of jet technology….welcome to “Next Gen” as the agencies would like to call it.

    For Rick Hatton and the rest of his crew and the rest of us pro aviation folks…..30 – 40 year old “Next Gen” aircraft never looked so good and the smell of JP4 or JET A being burned……..even better!!

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  3. Delighted they have been called in to assist the CA fires! Can’t have too many ATs in CA right now.

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  4. I was out doing Spring vaccinations on the cows/calves earlier this afternoon and the BAe-146 from Neptune was making lots of loops over the Missoula valley – interesting fire season ahead?

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