Coast Guard C-130 1706 spotted at McClellan

Coast Guard 1706 c-130 arrives at MCC
Coast Guard 1706 arrives at MCC Oct. 5, 2022. Photo by Mike McKeig.

Mike McKeig took photos of Coast Guard aircraft 1706 arriving at Sacramento McClellan Airport yesterday, one of seven HC-130Hs being transferred to CAL FIRE to become, one day, air tankers. Its next stop might be in Kingman, AZ, or another facility, to get new livery.

Coast Guard 1706 c-130 arrives at MCC
Coast Guard 1706 arrives at MCC Oct. 5, 2022. Photo by Mike McKeig.

The 1706 aircraft had its center wing box replaced before the legislation was passed in December of 2013 to transfer seven Coast Guard HC-130Hs to the Forest Service, and later to CAL FIRE. All of them will need to have depot level maintenance completed and retardant systems installed before the final transfer is complete.

C-130 1706 wing box replacement
A Coast Guard C-130, #1706, getting the Center Wing Box replaced at Robins AFB March 13, 2012. This aircraft is one of seven being transferred to CAL FIRE. (U. S. Air Force photo by Sue Sapp)

Another C-130 arrives at McClellan with new CAL FIRE livery

CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120 C-130
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120, formerly Coast Guard 1709, arriving at McClellan, August 12, 2022. By Mike McKeig.

Another of the seven C-130 aircraft that the Coast Guard will eventually transfer to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection flew into Sacramento McClellan Airport today. In the Coast Guard it was known as #1709 but will become Air Tanker 120 when the conversion is complete and it is operated by CAL FIRE.

Like some of the other Coast Guard C-130s that have come to McClellan after having work done it appears to have 98 percent new livery, the exception being the rudder. It will eventually receive the other half of the zero to complete the T-120 designation. The delay may have something to do with balancing the rudder after the conversion is largely complete.

We were told there are no obvious external indications of retardant drop doors or a tank having been installed.

Below is what it looked like five years before the transfer and tanker conversion effort for the seven C-130s began in 2013.

A Coast Guard C-130H, No. 1709
A Coast Guard No. 1709, October, 2008. This is one of the seven HC-130Hs being transferred to the CAL FIRE. Photo by Bob Garrard.

More photos of T-120 arriving at McClellan today:

CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120 C-130
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120, formerly Coast Guard 1709, arriving at McClellan, August 12, 2022. By Mike McKeig.
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120 C-130
CAL FIRE Air Tanker 120, formerly Coast Guard 1709, arriving at McClellan, August 12, 2022. By Mike McKeig.

Thanks Mike!

CAL FIRE Director gives update on C-130 air tankers

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

In an interview this week with CBS Bay Area, Joe Tyler, the new Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the seven C-130s that are being transferred from the US Coast Guard to CAL FIRE will go to Georgia this year to have the 4,000-gallon retardant tanks installed.

CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler
CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler making the keynote address at the Aerial Firefighting conference in San Diego, March 22, 2022. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

During Mr. Tyler’s first interview after becoming Director March 4, he told Fire Aviation two weeks later that it looked like the incorporation of the C-130s into their fleet might be pushed back to 2024 due the pandemic/endemic and supply chain issues. This was in spite of the agency’s efforts in attempting to facilitate movement of the project. In the CBS interview this week he generally confirmed the 2024 timeline, but also maintained hope that one or more would be in service before 2024.

Below is the CBS Bay Area interview with Mr. Tyler.

The U.S. Air Force was directed by Congress in December 2013 to perform  maintenance on the seven aircraft and convert them to air tankers. At that time they were given $130 million for the project. In 2018 Congress appropriated an additional $20 million, bringing the total cost to $150 million. It has now been 3,066 days since the process started.

C-130 air tanker brought to Ramona for crew training

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection brought air tanker 118, a C-130, to the airport at Ramona, California last week. Ryan Grothe who shot these photos said, “They conducted training flights in the area, including some touch and goes on the runway and pattern work.”

The seven Coast Guard C-130s will not be officially transferred to CAL FIRE until all of the maintenance and conversion to air tankers is complete, or close to it. That is expected to happen in 2023. No retardant delivery systems have been installed in any of the aircraft. Some of them may still need depot level maintenance.

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

Mr. Grothe said one of the C-130s is expected to be based at Ramona.

The relatively short runway restricts which types of aircraft can use the facilities at Ramona. When the U.S. Navy built the airport in 1945 as an emergency landing field it was only 4,000 feet long and remained that length well after it was conveyed to the County of San Diego in 1956.

CAL FIRE established an Air Attack Base there in 1957 and the U.S. Forest Service followed three years later.

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.

In 2002 the runway was lengthened to 5,001 feet but it is difficult for most large air tankers and impossible for very large air tankers to work at the base.

In August of 2019 one of Coulson’s C-130s under contract to CAL FIRE was spotted at Ramona.

Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe.
Air Tanker 118 training Ramona, California fire airtanker
Tanker 118, parked during training flights at Ramona, CA February, 2022. Photo by Ryan Grothe. Two S-2Ts were also there, Tankers 71 and 88.

CAL FIRE’s Tanker 119 is sporting new livery

Tanker 119
Tanker 119 at McClellan, shortly after getting new paint. Photo by Mike McKeig November 20, 2020.

Mike McKeig sent us an excellent photo of CAL FIRE’s Tanker 119 taken after the aircraft received a new paint job.

This is at least the third of seven HC-130H aircraft the agency is getting from the Coast Guard that have been painted in CAL FIRE livery. The plan is for all seven to receive internal gravity-powered retardant tanks so they can be used as air tankers. In May we had photos of Tankers 116 and 118.

The rudder on T-118 was also one of the last components to be painted, like T-119 at the top of the article.

A new contract awarded to DynCorp specifies that in addition to maintaining and supplying pilots for CAL FIRE’s fleet of S-2T air tankers, they will do the same for the HC-130H tankers.

Here is a “before” photo of T-119:

T-119 McClellan 5-5-2020
T-119, an HC-130H, was seen at McClellan May 5, 2020. Photo by John Vogel.

Below are Tankers 118 and 116:

CAL Fire air tanker 118 C-130
CAL FIRE air tanker 118 at Sacramento McClellan Airport. Photographed by John Vogel March 4, 2020.
CAL Fire air tanker 116 C-130
CAL FIRE air tanker 116 at Sacramento McClellan Airport. Photographed by John Vogel March 4, 2020.