T-119, an HC-130H, was seen at McClellan May 5, 2020. Photo by John Vogel.One of CAL FIRE’s seven HC-130H air tankers, T-119, was spotted by John Vogel at Sacramento McClellan Airport on May 5. This is the first report we have seen about the aircraft since it was in storage in Tucson at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, often called The Boneyard, in September, 2018.
The U.S. Forest Service received the seven aircraft from the Coast Guard in 2013, but regifted them to CAL FIRE in 2018 after losing interest. Approximately three were painted in USFS livery, T-116, T-118, and T-119. Before the transfer from the Coast Guard was finalized, they were all going to receive internal retardant tanks and various levels of maintenance, work to be overseen by the U.S. Air Force at a cost of up to $130 million; that work is still going on. Most of them were to be fitted with new center wing boxes. After many delays, in December, 2019 the Air Force awarded a contract to Coulson Aviation to install the tanks.
CAL FIRE has been showing off one of them, T-118, which has been repainted with their livery.
4 Comments
Just curious why, if it is Cal Fire’s why the USFS logo on the tail
The USFS painted the aircraft and applied the logo years ago. A lot of work still needs to be done on all seven of the HC-130Hs. Repainting and replacing logos are on the to-do list. As an example, the aircraft in the photo here is obviously having work done on one or more of the engines.
The article explains it
30 years ago the USAF and most government agencies did 90% of its own maintenance on all the aircraft and engines that they own. Today these agencies have contracted out over 50 to 60 % maybe higher of this maintenance and depot work. When Lockheed Martin and Boeing and Pratt and Whitney sell a new aircraft and engine they were very smart and have lots of lawyers and sold a complete contract that included hands on involvement for the life of the aircraft.They have a Colonel equivalent civilians sitting beside the Director of Maintenance and a General equivalent civilians sitting beside the General at the headquarters and because most of these civilians are retired military they have a lot of pull when it comes the decisions made. Like it or not that’s the way it is done today. This includes technical representation, life management and engineering. It looks like the government is running the show but in fact the contractors have near complete control. So when you see the Forest Service emblem on the tail flash its not really the government that is doing the work we just payed for this service along with the US Government.
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