10 Tanker is getting four DC-10’s ready for the season

10 tanker DC-10 maintenance support units

Above: The four Maintenance Support units for 10 Tanker — one for each DC-10. Photo by Robert Mouck.

The crews at 10 Tanker Air Carrier are getting their four DC-10 air tankers ready for the fire season. Two of the aircraft are on exclusive use (EU) contracts with the U.S. Forest Service and the other two are on call when needed (CWN) contracts with the Forest Service.

The company just completed a two-year EU contract with New South Wales in Australia and will be submitting a bid for the next two years. 10 Tanker also has CWN contracts with Douglas County (just south of Denver) and four states: Nevada, California, Montana, and Minnesota.

They just upgraded their Maintenance Support units that follow the air tankers. Each of the four aircraft has a dedicated large goose-neck trailer full of tools and spare parts pulled by a Dodge heavy duty crew cab pickup.

John Gould, President of 10 Tanker, said they recently resolved a Supplemental Type Certificate issue with the FAA and expect to finalize some details with the Operational Load Monitoring System and the ATU soon, and then they will be carded again for this year.

10 Tanker maintenance support trucks
Some of the Maintenance Support units for 10 Tanker. Photo by RK Smithley.

Videos of a DC-10 working a fire in New South Wales

DC-10 drops Masonite Road Fire

Above: A DC-10 drops on the Masonite Road Fire in New South Wales. Screengrab from video by Raymond Terrace Fire & Rescue.

Check out these videos of a DC-10 dropping on the Masonite Road Fire near the Newcastle Airport in New South Wales. The fire burned 2,300 hectares (5,683 acres). The airport was closed at times due to degraded visibility caused by the smoke.

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UPDATE January 20, 2018: I found another video, of the DC-10 working the Pilliga fire.

Homeowner films DC-10 retardant drop on his house

This was on the Liberty Fire December 7 east of Murrieta, California.

(UPDATED September 14, 2018)

The photos below from Flashover.com (referred to in the comments below) show the results of a low drop by a DC-10 on the Liberty Fire, December 7, 2017. They were taken by Jenny Crane.

DC-10 low retardant drop
The result of a low drop by a DC-10, Liberty Fire, 2017.
DC-10 low retardant drop
The result of a low drop by a DC-10, Liberty Fire, 2017.

 

Video of multiple air tankers working the Liberty Fire near Murrieta, CA

Liberty Fire

Above: The Liberty Fire east of Murrieta, California, December 7, 2017. Screengrab from the KTLA video.

(Originally published at 7 p.m. PST December 7, 2017)

KTLA shot some excellent stabilized video from a helicopter Thursday of the Liberty Fire that has burned about 300 acres northeast of Murrieta, California. This is a new fire that erupted this afternoon 17 miles north of another new fire, the Lilac Fire south of Temecula which was 3,000 acres at 7 p.m. PST.

The video, which is almost 2 hours long, has at least 8 shots of air tankers dropping. We skimmed through it quickly and noted where the drops occur, probably missing a few.

13:00 – DC-10
17:00 – BAe-146/C-130
35:30 – C-130
38:35 – BAe-146
49:15 –  S-2
1:05:00 – MAFFS
1:30:00 – 747
1:40:20 – MAFFS

Firefighting aircraft on Twitter

Isaac notified us about these videos and photos. Thanks Isaac!