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Aero Union is appealing the cancellation of their air tanker contract

Bill GabbertJanuary 17, 2012March 11, 2019UncategorizedAero Union, air tanker10 Comments

P-3 Orion-1 — A P-3 Orion drops on a fire near Cedar City, Utah in 2006. From zionhelitack.blogspot.com

The CEO of Aero Union, Britt Gourley,said the company has appealed through the judicial process the U.S. Forest Service’s cancellation of their contract for Aero Union’s eight P-3 Orion air tankers. The USFS terminated the contract July 29, 2011, saying safety inspections were not being completed, and shortly after that the company laid off 60 of their employees. At that time, six of the eight P-3s were active on contracts. This left only 11 large air tankers on exclusive use contracts with the USFS.

Mr. Gourley told Wildfire Today on Monday that after their contract was cancelled halfway through the fire season, and now with the aircraft sitting for almost six months, their financial situation has forced them to sell their assets. As we reported on January 1, Aero Union has put their aircraft up for auction, which will culminate in the opening of sealed bids on February 28 at McClellan, California.

Mr. Gourley said his company complied with all of the requirements in the USFS contract and claims the P-3s have “always been meticulously maintained and continuosly airworthy”. He hopes the aircraft will be flying over fires again this summer, if not in the United States, then in another country.

Mr. Gourley feels the USFS has a strong predisposition toward the C-130J as an air tanker platform and is unwilling to give serious consideration to other aircraft. He said another option for an air tanker would be to acquire military surplus P-3s and “re-wing” them with current technology and kits developed by Lockheed which cost about $18 million each.

It would be surprising if a private company could work out the finances for the procurement and then the USFS contracting arrangements to purchase and operate new C-130Js with a purchase price of about $90 million each. But if the USFS adopts a different air tanker paradigm, in which the aircraft are government-owned and contractor operated, then it’s a whole new ball game. It is hard to imagine the U.S. Government coming up with the money to buy a fleet of new air tankers. A more realistic variation on this is to acquire some gently-used C-130Js that have been thrown away by the military.

It is hard to understand how the US Government can come up with trillions of dollars for military aircraft, ships, and equipment, but the USFS has to contract for air tanker platforms that have been deemed no longer worthy of being used by the military.

MAFFS II, built by Aero Union and sold to the USFS. Photo by Aero Union

In addition to the eight Aero Union P-3s that are up for auction, the company is selling intellectual property consisting of patents, jigs, drawings, and tooling for their MAFFS II 3,000-gallon slide-in retardant tank system for C-130J. The USFS has already purchased eight of these second generation units which are used by Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units on wildfires if all of the privately owned air tankers are already working on fires. If a new company purchases the MAFFS II intellectual property and manufactures more, you could have one of your own for approximately $5.2 million.

The reason Mr. Gourley of Aero Union contacted us was so that he could ask for our email address in order to reply in writing to our January 1 article about the demise of their company and the current auction. Below is his letter:

Continue reading “Aero Union is appealing the cancellation of their air tanker contract”

Videos of air tanker drops

Bill GabbertJanuary 7, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorizedair tanker7 Comments

SEAT drop video — A screen grab from a Marc Mullis video of a single engine air tanker drop near Junction, Texas

I ran across some very interesting videos shot by Marc Mullis, a single engine air tanker pilot. He uses a Contour video camera and has posted on the Contour site about half a dozen videos of him making drops on wildfires. The videos I saw, shot from the cockpit, had audio of the radio conversations and at least one of them which was recorded on a fire near Junction, Texas has a display showing the GPS track. Pretty high-tech stuff. An excellent way to spend a few minutes on a winter weekend.

Minden’s BAe-146 air tanker to begin tests this month

Bill GabbertJanuary 3, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorizedair tanker, BAe-146, Minden4 Comments

Minden BAe-146 — Minden’s BAe-146 shortly after the company acquired the aircraft. Photo: Minden, used with permission

The Minden Air Corp, based at the Minden-Tahoe airport in Minden, Nevada, is in the final stages of converting a four-engine jet airliner into a next generation air tanker. The BAe-146 was manufactured in 1989 and Minden acquired it, serial number E2111, in January 2009. The new air tanker will be several decades younger than the two P2V’s currently being flown by Minden and the nine operated by Neptune.

Tim Christy, the Director of Flight Operations for Minden, told us that he expects the air tanker to leave the hangar later this month after which “we will start running water through it”. The tank system is conventional, consisting of a 3,000 gallon internal retardant tank and a computer controlled constant flow door system which will rely on gravity, rather than a pressurized system, to force the retardant out of the tank.

Minden BAe-146 in hangar — Minden’s BAe-146 during the conversion process. Photo: Minden, used with permission

Mr. Christy said the conversion process is slow. They have to make sure that everything they do conforms with FAA regulations and have been recording every single part that goes on the aircraft.

He said they have a second BAe-146, serial number 2106, which they will convert into an air tanker as soon as they finish the first one. He expects the second conversion to go much faster than the first.

If everything goes well, Mr. Christy hopes to have the first one flying on fires during the 2012 fire season.

Neptune leased a BAe-146 converted air tanker last summer and obtained “interim approval” from the Interagency Air Tanker Board which will be valid through the end of December, 2012. It will not receive full approval from the Board until after it is evaluated sufficiently on actual wildfires and at air tanker bases. There has been speculation that the BAe-146 operated by Neptune uses air pressure or some other pumping system to force the retardant out of the tank, but Dan Snyder, the President of Neptune, told us today that their BAe-146 uses a gravity drop system. This was confirmed by Jennifer Jones, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service at Boise. Their aircraft, Tanker 40, made a handful of drops this fall in Texas and a few last month in California. Neptune leases the ship from Tronos, and presently it is back at Tronos’ base on Prince Edward Island in Canada for a major scheduled maintenance which usually takes about 21 days.

Minden owns their BAe-146 and is performing their own conversion, rather than leasing a previously converted aircraft from Tronos.

Here are some stats about the BAe-146:

Water or retardant capacity: 3,000 USG
Range: 1,800 miles
Cruising speed, about 498 mph
Typical drop speed expected to be, according to Tronos, 120 knots (138 mph) @ 150 feet (46 meters)
Short take-off length and steep field approach
Air-brake and flap combination improves low speed maneuverability
387 aircraft were manufactured from 1978-2001
Engines: four Textron Lycoming turbofans
Passenger capacity as an airliner: 82-112

Minden’s two P2Vs, air tankers 48 and 55, will begin active contracts with the U.S. Forest Service next month, with one starting on February 15 and the second on April 1. Neptune will bring on one P2V in February, two in March, and the other six later.The loss of Aero Union’s eight P3 air tankers after the company went out of business has affected the contracting of the 11 to 12 remaining large air tankers. Mr. Christy of Minden told us that their company at this time is not interested in bidding on the P3s that are going up for auction. Mr. Snyder of Neptune said they have little interest in the aircraft but will probably go down to Sacramento and take a look at them.

Aero Union to auction their P-3 air tankers

Bill GabbertJanuary 1, 2012October 15, 2013UncategorizedAero Union, air tanker8 Comments

P-3 air tankers at Sacramento's McClellan airfield. Google Earth photo, October 30, 2011

The Aero Union Corporation has listed their eight P-3 air tankers to be sold by auction. Plant and Machinery auction company is advertising the aircraft and other items totaling “$50,000,000 of aircraft, parts, and intellectual property” to be sold in a sealed bid auction. The auction site lists the following items for sale:

Eight Lockhead P-3 Orion Aerial Firefighting Aircraft
Engines, APUs, propellers, parts
Intellectual property, including the MAFFS II 3,000-gallon slide-in air tanker system for C-130J aircraft, and the FIREHAWK Aerial Firefighting System for Blackhawk helicopters

File photo of an Aero Union P-3 at McClellan. Photo by Aero Union.

Aero Union began in Redding, California in 1960 as Western Air Industries, changed the name to Aero Union, and moved to Chico in 1964. They began acquiring military surplus P-3 Orion aircraft in 1990, beginning with two and later increasing the total to eight. In 2005 a group of investors in the Seattle area bought the company and moved it to the former McClellan Air Force Base at Sacramento in 2010. The base is now a joint civil-military airfield with various mixed-use tenants.

The U.S. Forest Service cancelled their air tanker contract with Aero Union in July of 2011, saying safety inspections were not being completed, and shortly after that the company laid off most of their employees. At the time of the cancellation six of the P-3s were still under contract and being used regularly on wildfires. Unless the condition of the aircraft has deteriorated significantly in the last six months, which is possible, they may still be very viable as air tankers. It appears that they will qualify for the U.S. Forest Service’s “new generation” air tanker contract which requires aircraft that can cruise at 300 knots, have turbine engines, and have a “target” capacity of 3,000 to 5,000 gallons.

The sealed bids will be opened February 28, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. local time at the Lions Gate Hotel at McClellan, California.

Thanks go out to Ken

Catching up with Tanker 40

Bill GabbertDecember 23, 2011January 4, 2012Uncategorizedair tanker

Tanker 40, the BAe-146 jet-powered air tanker that was used for the first time on fires this fall, is taking the winter off, like most air tankers. The lease that Neptune had with Tronos, which converted and still owns the aircraft, ended yesterday, December 22. Since it is due for its C-check, which is required every 5,000 cycles or every 2.5 years, the aircraft is en route back home, to Prince Edward Island, Canada. This is major maintenance and usually takes about 21 days for a BAe-146.

Dan Snyder, the President of Neptune, told Wildfire Today that the aircraft and tank performed well in Texas in November, and also on the Willow fire last weekend near Hollister, California. Tanker 40 was the only large air tanker on the fire in California. Mr. Snyder said they expect to have the aircraft back under contract in the spring of 2012.

Neptune is planning on responding to the USFS’ Request for Proposal that the agency issued on November 30, which seeks to contract for 7 to 35 “next generation air tankers”. These next-gen aircraft must be turbine-powered and be capable of hauling 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of retardant while cruising at a minimum of 300 knots (345 mph). It is our understanding that turbofan engines, frequently called jets, qualify as “turbine powered”, which means the BAe-146 would most likely meet the standards in the RFP since it carries 3,000 gallons, and earlier today cruised at 430 knots (495 mph) flying back to Canada.

As we reported on November 8, 2011, the U.S. Forest Service has committed to have at least one large air tanker on contract through the winter of 2011-2012, and Mr. Snyder said one of their P2Vs, Tanker 5, has been filling that role. As of December 22 Tanker 5 was in California.

The USFS will bring on most of Neptune’s P2Vs earlier than usual in 2012, beginning as early as March 1, due to the longer fire seasons we have been experiencing and to make up for the loss of Aero Union’s eight P-3 air tankers last summer. The USFS said they cancelled the Aero Union contracts because certain required inspections were not being performed. This left only 11 large air tankers under exclusive use contracts, down from 44 in 2002.

EIS decision: 30% of USFS lands now off limits for retardant

Bill GabbertDecember 16, 2011October 12, 2022Uncategorizedair tanker, Photo by Bill G14 Comments

Retardant drop Whoopup fire — Tanker 45 makes a retardant drop on the Whoopup fire near Newcastle, WY, July 18, 2011. Photo by Bill Gabbert

On Tuesday U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell signed off on a decision that establishes new policies for the use of aerial fire retardant when fighting wildfires on U.S. Forest Service lands. Tidwell chose one of three alternatives in the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that studied the use of retardant and how it affects water resources and certain plant and wildlife species. The new policy puts buffer zones around waterways and habitat for some threatened, endangered, and sensitive species in order to avoid applying retardant in those areas.

This will result in approximately 30 percent of USFS lands being off limits for retardant while fighting fire. There is an exception if human life or public safety is threatened.

The EIS was written in response to a July, 2010 decision by U. S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. The agency began soliciting public input on the EIS in May of last year.

Now firefighters and Air Tactical Group Supervisors will have roughly 12,000 maps identifying avoidance areas on 98 National Forest System units that identify locations of waterways and areas for hundreds of plant and animal species. Professional liability insurance anyone?

Link to the EIS documents.

Thanks go out to Dick

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