As we are writing this Saturday evening, a single engine air tanker (SEAT) is en route from the United States to Australia. An Air Tractor 802, Tanker 849, N30723, departed from Santa Maria, California on September 30 at 8:33 a.m., and after stopping in Honolulu and the Marshall Islands is now on the way to Honiara, Guadalcanal with an expected arrival time of 9:12 p.m. MT, October 3.
On the 13-hour leg to Honolulu it flew at 5,000 to 8,000 feet at a ground speed of 175 to 219 mph.
We have heard but can’t confirm that fuel can put in the hopper (retardant tank) on a SEAT to extend the range. Obviously extra fuel is stored somewhere to enable the 13-hour flight.
You can track the SEAT at FlightAware.
(UPDATE October 5, 2015)
We found out today that the SEAT was operated this summer by Aero Spray, a company headquartered in Appleton, Minnesota that operates several Air Tractor aircraft for spraying crops and fighting wildfires. They were the first company in the United States to operate an Air Tractor on floats. Laura at the company told us that they leased the Air Tractor Fire Boss, Tanker 849, from Pays Air Service in Australia, and it is being returned to the owner.
In an earlier comment on this article, Bean said the Air Tractor website mentions a ferry kit that enables 800 gallons of fuel to be carried in the hopper. And at Airliners.net a person identified as “AT502B” wrote:
AT 802’s are available with a ferry kit, which enables you to fill the water tank-or Hopper- up with fuel, thus giving you an additional 800gal of fuel. Add this to the standard fuel tank size of 336us gal- gives you some serious fuel capacity for a single engine aeroplane. An AT 802 burns approx. 75-85us gal per hour at a ferry speed of 200mph- so it gives you a pretty good range as well.
The aircraft arrived in Queensland, Australia Sunday, October 4 at 7:53 p.m. MT according to Flight Aware, after a flight of almost seven hours from Guadalcanal.