While working on the Contreras Fire
Continue readingCreek Fire on Camp Pendleton forces 7,000 to evacuate on Christmas Eve
The fire burned more than 4,200 acres west of Fallbrook, California
Continue readingPhotos of aircraft on the Elephant Butte Fire, part 2 of 5
Today, featuring Tanker 02, a BAe-146
Continue readingFour of Neptune’s BAe-146 air tankers are deployed
Another five are at Missoula, MT and Alamagordo, NM
Continue readingHelena Air Tanker Base has been busy
(Originally published at 9:33 a.m. MDT July 31, 2017)
Jeff Wadekamper, the Airport Director at the Helena Regional Airport, sent us this picture, and said, “Last weekend we had 7 tankers here (2 Neptune BAE 146’s, 2 Neptune P2V’s, 2 SEATS, and the DC-10 #912)”.
In this photo taken July 23 we can see two BAe-146’s (Tankers 02 and 15), one P2V (T-44), a DC-10 (T-912), and a Single Engine Air Tanker.
Thanks Jeff!
A busy day at Reno Stead
The Great Basin Coordination Center distributed this photo on Twitter Monday at 6:50 p.m., saying “Busy day at Stead”.
I counted nine air tankers:
- Four Neptune BAe-146’s
- One Erickson Aero Tanker MD-87
- One SEAT
- One Aero-Flite RJ 85
- Two Aero-Flite CL-415’s
I’m not sure what fires they are working on but the 83,000-acre Long Valley Fire is 16 miles north of the airport and there are several others 140 to 230 miles to the northeast but Battle Mountain tanker base is closer to those.
Below, a DC-10 drops on the Long Valley Fire.
#LongValleyFire has reached 40% containment and has grown to 83k acres. Crews continue to make progress and watch the weather. pic.twitter.com/IoYPTSzalX
— BLM Nevada (@blmnv) July 18, 2017
Air tanker lineup at Libby Tanker Base
Above: Jerry Messinger sent us this photo taken June 24 of Air Tankers 02, 03, and 163 (left to right) at Libby Tanker Base, Sierra Vista, AZ — two BAe-146’s and one RJ85.
Thanks Jerry!
Rarely seen together
Neptune Aviation posted this photo on their Facebook page of two aircraft that are rarely captured in the same photo, a BAe-146 air tanker and an F-15E. They wrote:
Colin Moeser captured this jaw dropping shot of Neptune’s T-02 paralleling an F15E Strike Eagle from Mountain Home AFB landing in Boise in 2015. The story behind the story is that Neptune’s T-02 Captain Terry Cullen is the proud father of Ryan, a crew chief on an F15. Good genes run in the family!
U.S. air tanker dispatched to Canada
An air tanker operated by a United States firm was dispatched to Canada on Sunday. Today Neptune Aviation’s Tanker 02, a BAe-146, is in Grand Praire, Alberta (map).
Jennifer Jones, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service, said there are no plans to send any additional air tankers to Canada at this time.
Tanker 02 does not have an exclusive use contract with the U.S. Forest Service, but received one of the 22 recently awarded Call When Needed contracts.
It is not common to send U.S. air tankers north across the border. But in recent years CV-580 air tankers have spent quite a bit of time in the United States after making the trip south.
Three more BAe-146 air tankers on contract
Three more of Neptune’s BAe-146 air tankers are being brought into the current fleet. Tom Harbour, Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the U.S. Forest Service, confirmed today at the Large Fire Conference in Missoula that two BAe-146s came on in the last few days and a third will be on board by June 1.
The three aircraft are being added to Neptune’s “legacy” air tanker contract using the “additional equipment” provision.
These three air tankers are being added to the fleet along with the two additional DC-10s that were announced last week. 10 Tanker Air Carrier had one DC-10 already working on a next-gen contract and a second was converted last week from a call when needed contract to exclusive use, using the additional equipment provision on their contract. 10 Tanker is converting a third DC-10 that will also be on the next gen exclusive use contract when it is complete this summer.