Tanker 910 on the Soberanes Fire, 6:02 p.m. MDT July 23, 2016. Photo by Wally Finck.Wally Finck, a Battalion Chief with Santa Clara County Fire, sent us two photos he took of Tanker 910, a DC-10, dropping retardant on the Soberanes Fire in Monterey County, California.
Tanker 910 on the Soberanes Fire, 6:02 p.m. MDT July 23, 2016. Photo by Wally Finck.On August 4 we ran the photo below that Chief Finck also shot.
T-910 on the Soberanes Fire. Photo by Wally Finck.Thanks Chief Finck.
Above: part of a thrust reverser that fell off Tanker 911 after landing at Santa Maria. Screenshot from KCOY video.
Part of a thrust reverser fell off a DC-10 air tanker August 25 while it was taxiing after landing at Santa Maria airport (map) in southern California. The aircraft was repaired and is back in service.
Below are excerpts from the SAFECOM:
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“After touchdown and the grounding of nose gear, the #2 engine thrust reverser was deployed with normal indications. All indications were normal during landing rollout. Chief pilot then stowed the #2 reverser and received indication that the #2 reverser was unlocked. Appropriate checklist was performed and engine was shut down. Airtanker Base was notified that the aircraft had a maintenance issue and needed an appropriate place to park. Pilot was then notified by Air Traffic Control that they had “lost a piece of the aircraft on the runway“. The part was immediately removed by airport employees and the aircraft taxied to the Airtanker Base Ramp without further incident.
Corrective Action:
“Regional Aviation Maintenance Inspector {RAMI} was contacted, as well as the Regional Office of the incident. RAMI: arrived SMX at 1930 hours and inspected parts and the aircraft. The company brought in a team and replaced the #2 fan reverser. Findings: company experts concluded that upon the #2 reverser cowl stowing, it somehow bound up at one of the guides and the three brackets that attach the cowl to the deploying jack screws sheared and the cowl departed the reverser. The company did a one time inspection of their fleet to ensure no other problems on their reversers.
RASM Comments: Good coordination with RAMI and company maintenance personnel to understand the cause of the issue. Impact to other airport traffic was minimal with only a brief interruption to retrieve parts of the aircraft that were on the runway. Also good call on the part of the company to inspect other aircraft in the fleet for similar issues. Repairs were made to the incident aircraft and it was RTCA by the RAMI.”
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to John.
Screenshot from SLOStringer’s video@SLOStringer shot an excellent video of Tanker 911, a DC-10, getting down low to make a drop on the Chimney Fire in San Luis Obispo County in California. We can’t embed the Twitter video here, but check it out.
Wally Finck took this awesome photo of Tanker 910, a DC-10, dropping retardant on the Soberanes Fire in Monterey County, California.
(Previously the photo was attributed to someone else who posted it on Twitter.)
Above, Neptune’s Tanker 12, a BAe-146, drops on the Soberanes Fire near Big Sur, California. Credit for the video: Eric Tebbets, Captain, CALFIRE, Cuesta Camp Fire Crews.
Next, one of 10 Tanker’s DC-10’s drops on the fire.
Click on the arrows at the bottom-right to see it in full-screen.
Weston Burch sent us this excellent photo of Tanker 912 dropping retardant on the Hayden Pass Fire, July 14, 2016. The fire was 17 air miles southeast of Salida, Colorado. The aircraft was working out of the Pueblo, Colorado airport at the time. Thanks Weston!
As a bonus, here is a video of a DC-10 dropping on the Sand Fire near Los Angeles. Click on the arrows at bottom/right to see it in full screen.
Above: The north side of the Indian Canyon Fire along the Cheyenne River late in the evening of July 17.
(UPDATED at 7 p.m. MDT July 18, 2016)
Around noon on Monday we visited the west side of the Indian Canyon Fire south of Edgemont, South Dakota. It was very quiet. Not much was going on at the airport, the incident command post, or along Highway 471. We only saw one location that was putting up much smoke and it was on the north side in some cottonwood trees near the Cheyenne River. That area probably has logs and dead trees that could smoulder for days.
The order for the Type 1 Incident Management Team was cancelled. The latest size estimate for the fire is 13,500 acres. At 9 a.m. today the incident management team reported there was zero containment on the fire. Then at 4:06 p.m. that increased to 60 percent. This just illustrates that containment numbers are meaningless most of the time and is the reason why we rarely regurgitate that statistic.
The six photos in the next gallery were taken around noon on Monday. Scroll down to see two other galleries. Click on a photo to see a larger version, then click on the arrows to view more.
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(UPDATED at 10:28 a.m. MDT July 18, 2016)
Monday morning the Great Plains Fire Information office reported there had been “heavy rain” on the Indian Canyon Fire in South Dakota. When I left the Edgemont area at 7:30 Sunday night a thunderstorm was moving in and light rain was falling. Two rain gauges that are near the fire but not within the perimeter recorded 0.03″ and 0.07″ overnight.
The heat-sensing satellite did not detect any large heat sources Sunday night on the fire. That does not mean it is out. The sensors, about 200 miles overhead, can only “see” large concentrations of heat. And the grass, which comprises most of the vegetation in the fire area, can burn and then cool before the next satellite overpass.
The behavior of the fire on Sunday was affected by the moderate weather conditions — temperature around 80, relative humidity in the 30’s, and an 8 mph east wind. The forecast for the fire area on Monday predicts 96 degrees, southwest winds of 14 to 18 gusting in the mid-20’s, and 30 percent relative humidity. These conditions could dry much of the Sunday night rainfall.
Another factor slowing the fire was the use of air tankers, helping to keep the fire out of Edgemont. In addition to a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker, seven other air tankers were used on the fire Sunday — four Single Engine Air Tankers and three large air tankers, T-02 and T41 (both BAe-146’s), and T-45 (a P2V). In addition, two National Guard Blackhawk helicopters worked on the fire Sunday.
The photos in the gallery below were shot around 7 p.m. MDT Sunday night. To see larger versions, click on one, then click the arrows to see more.
This was the first time that a Very Large Air Tanker has dropped retardant in the state of South Dakota. It carries 11,600 gallons, far more than any other air tanker currently certified in North America. The other Large Air Tankers hold between 2,000 and 4,500 gallons. Global Supertanker has a 747 Very Large Air Tanker with a 19,600-gallon capacity working its way through the FAA and Interagency AirTanker Board approval process.
(Published at 1:50 p.m. MDT July 12, 2016)
DC-10 wing impacts hangar at Pueblo Airport, July 10, 2016. Photo from the SAFECOM.One of the three DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers, Tanker 912, was involved in an incident while taxiing back to the loading pits at the Pueblo, Colorado airport on Saturday, June 9. A wing tip struck a hangar causing damage to the aircraft and the hangar. There were no injuries to anyone on the ground or the five personnel on board the air tanker.
After the accident occurred, with the wing tip still partially embedded in the structure, the DC-10 was left in place until Monday morning while the stability of the hangar was assessed and decisions were being made about how to proceed in order to minimize further damage.
“Yesterday [Monday] we had some structural engineers out to assess the hangar’s structural stability”, said John Vigil, Interim Director of the Pueblo Airport. “We were able to just cut off a couple of pieces of steel and then were able to push [the DC-10] back with a tug.
“From what I could see”, Mr. Vigil continued, “the damage was minimal to the aircraft. It was really just the wing tip. The damage to the hangar was a little bit more substantial. We’ll meet with the insurance company tomorrow [July 13] and get an assessment. The good news is the hangar didn’t collapse. There was a small [general aviation] plane in there, we were able to take it out and get it out of harm’s way, and then start to work getting the DC-10 free.”
A tug pushed the aircraft back on Monday, extricating the wing tip from the hangar. Later in the day mechanics from 10 Tanker Air Carrier, the operator of the three DC-10’s, began repairing the damage to the wing.
A SAFECOM was submitted at 12:07 p.m. on July 12, 2016. The FAA also a brief report.
File photo of Air Tanker 912 departing McClellan Air Field June 11, 2016 while working a fire on the Klamath National Forest. Photo by Matthew Rhodes.On July 19, 2014 another DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker, T-910, incurred some damage to a wing while it was taxiing at the air tanker base at Moses Lake, Washington. While relocating in the loading pit area the aircraft struck a portable “air stair”, a structure that can be pushed up to the aircraft door. Two people on the ground were marshaling the DC-10 as it slowly moved, directing it where to go and supposedly watching for obstructions.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection added a DC-10 air tanker to their fleet on June 27.
Below is a screen shot from the 10 Tanker Air Carrier website.
All three of the company’s DC-10s have been busy in California and Arizona in recent days.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Matt.