Evergreens’ Supertanker spotted on satellite photo

Tanker 979, Evergreen's 747 Supertanker
Tanker 979, Evergreen’s Supertanker, parked at Pinal Airpark near Marana, Arizona. Google satellite imagery dated November, 20, 2009.

In checking out the location on Google Maps of a 50+ acre fire that was reported by the Southwest Coordination Center on their Twitter account, I thought I would cruise farther west and see what the “aircraft boneyard” at Pinal Airpark at Marana, Arizona looked like from a satellite.

I ran across Evergreen’s 747 “Supertanker” parked on the tarmac. This was not a surprise, because we reported back as far as October 17, 2008, that Evergreen had been conducting static tests on the ground at Pinal Airpark as well as drop tests over the nearby Black Mountains. When it was deployed to San Bernardino and Israel last year, it departed both times from Pinal Airpark.

Air tankers at other locations can also be seen on satellite photos, such as those at Neptune Aviation at Missoula, MT (imagery dated April 19, 2006), but since the aircraft are much smaller than a 747, they are not quite as noticeable. On the 747 photo, not only can you read the words “Evergreen Supertanker” on the fuselage, but you can almost read the tanker number “979” on the vertical stabilizer.

Evergreen’s 747 Supertanker deployed to fight fires in Israel

747 Supertanker
Tanker 979 at San Bernardino Air Tanker Base, July 30, 2010

Ben Johnston from Evergreen International Airlines told Wildfire Today this afternoon that their 747 Supertanker, Air Tanker 979, is being deployed to help fight the wildfires in Israel. He said they are scrambling to get to Tel Aviv with an expected arrival at midnight Saturday after which they will go into crew rest. They expect to be ready to operate in the country on Sunday.

Earlier today Wildfire Today covered the international response to the fires in Israel which includes approximately 24 firefighting aircraft from 11 countries. But make that 25 aircraft from 12 countries now that the 747 is involved.

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UPDATE @ 10:29 p.m. MT, December 3, 2010

The 747 departed KMZJ (Pinal Airpark) at 10:09 PM MST enroute to KJFK (John F Kennedy Intl) for an estimated arrival at 02:01 a.m. MST. They are cruising at 626 mph! Where’s the fire? Oh, right.

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UPDATE @ 10:00 a.m. MT, December 4, 2010

The 747 Supertanker departed JFK today at 5:57 a.m. MT. Their ETA at Ben Gurion International (LLBG/TLV) in Israel is 4:11 p.m. MT. As this is written,they are cruising at 503 to 575 mph and are halfway across the Atlantic Ocean.

We have an updated article on the fires in Israel, including information about the U.S. National Guard’s C-130 MAFFS air tankers being deployed to Israel.

747 air tanker deployed in California

747 Supertanker
Tanker 979 at San Bernardino Air Tanker Base, July 30, 2010

Evergreen’s 747 “Supertanker”, Tanker 979, was activated yesterday and used on Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Crown fire (map) near Palmdale.

Tanker 979 dropping on the Crown Fire
Tanker 979 dropping on the Crown Fire July 30, 2010. Photo: Kit Fox

When it was dispatched it was at Pinal Airpark near Marana, Arizona. From there it flew at 616 mph (Mach 0.81) at 28,000 feet and landed at San Bernardino International Airport 55 minutes later. According to John Miller, Deputy Public Affairs Officer for the San Bernardino National Forest who provided the first and third of these photos, it is being supported by the USFS’ San Bernardino Airtanker Base.

The tanks on the Supertanker have a capacity of 21,000 gallons, but yesterday, due to density altitude, it only carried 19,000 gallons in the single drop it made on the Crown fire, according to Leslie Casavan, Manager of the Airtanker Base. ONLY. That’s almost twice as much as the huge DC-10 Tanker 911, and six times as much as the “large air tankers” that have a maximum capacity of 3,000 gallons, such as a C-130.

KESQ has a good video report about the Supertanker.

The USFS has the huge air tanker under a Call When Needed contract this year. CAL FIRE may also have it under a CWN contract.

747 air tanker 979
Tanker 979 at San Bernardino Air Tanker Base, July 30, 2010. USFS photo.

747 Supertanker staged for oil spill

Evergreen has moved their 747 air tanker, or Supertanker, from Oregon to the Gulfport, Mississippi airport in hopes of getting a contract to drop dispersants on the Gulf oil spill. The company is talking with BP, the Coast Guard, and the Air force, giving them the facts about the 20,000-gallon capacity of the huge air tanker. Currently two C-130’s are being usedto drop dispersants, each carrying 5,000 gallons.

 

Very large air tankers under contract this year

Cal Fire and the U. S. Forest Service are finalizing their contracts for very large air tankers for this year. Here is what we have been told by the two agencies.

DC-10 air tanker dropping
DC-10 drops retardant during a test last week near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Photo: Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre.

The two DC-10’s, operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier

Cal Fire will have one on an exclusive use contract, and one on a call when needed (CWN) contract. The USFS will have one on a CWN contract. One of these DC-10’s is currently on a contract in Australia, but it should be ending soon. It has only been used on one fire so far this Australian summer.

747 air tanker dropping
747; Evergreen photo

747 operated by Evergreen

The USFS will have it on a CWN contract. It appears that Cal Fire will also have it on a CWN contract, but this is not yet certain.

Martin Mars air tanker
Martin Mars. Photo: Coulson Flying Tankers.

Martin Mars operated by Coulson Flying Tankers

At this time neither Cal Fire nor the USFS have any plans to contract for this aircraft this year. Last year the USFS had it on an exclusive use contract for 2-3 months, stationed at Lake Elsinore in southern California.

747 air tanker makes first drop on live fire in lower 48 states

Evergreen’s 747 “Supertanker” made its first drop on a live fire in the lower 48 states today. Flying out of McClellan near Sacramento it made at least two drops on the Station fire. It split its 20,000 gallon capacity into two separate drops of about 10,000 gallons each, without having to make the 55-minute one-way return trip to McClellan to reload.

The Fox TV station out of Los Angeles got two of the drops on tape. Click on the image below to play the video. (UPDATE: the video is no longer available)

The plane may also have dropped earlier in the day on a fire near Yucaipa, southeast of Los Angeles.

As Wildfire Today reported on July 30, the 747 made its first drop on a live fire in Spain in mid-July. The second fire it dropped on was the Railbelt Complex in Alaska on July 31. If it also dropped on the Yucaipa fire earlier today, then the Station fire was the fourth fire it has dropped on.

Here are a couple of screen grabs from today’s video.

Below is the photo of the 747 on the Railbelt Complex in Alaska on July 31 that we published on August 1.