(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!
Super close flyby of DC-10 doing a drop over the #Frye #Wildfire on Mt. Graham in Southern #Arizona. Video from Troy Wells. pic.twitter.com/SSGWJJlKAM
— Wes Callison (@WesCallisonTNN) June 26, 2017
This is a very impressive video, probably shot a week or so ago, of the Very Large Air Tanker 912, a DC-10, making a drop close to the telescope facilities at the Mount Graham International Observatory during the Frye Fire in Arizona.
The Sonoita-Elgin Fire District posted this video and photo of Tanker 912, a DC-10, dropping on the Smith Fire in Southeast Arizona.
All three of the DC-10 air tankers were in the same place at the same time Saturday, October 1, which is a rare occurrence. Tankers 910, 911, and 912 were all parked at McClellan Air Field. This happened at least one other time that we are aware of, August 30, 2014 at Castle Airport near Merced, California.
The trio will be split up again in the near future when Tanker 910 begins preparing for its contract in Australia where it will begin in less than four weeks. Tankers 911 and 912 will continue their work for CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service for the remainder of the season.
One of Coulson’s C-130’s, Tanker 132, started its contract in Australia on September 6.
10 Tanker Air Carrier photo, used with permission.
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.
A DC-10 air tanker dropping on the Hayden Pass Fire. Undated/uncredited photo uploaded July 14 on InciWeb.Tanker 912, the DC-10 that embedded its wing tip into the side of a hangar at Pueblo Airport on July 9 has been repaired and was back on the job yesterday. John Gould of 10 Tanker Air Carrier confirmed that it became airworthy again Wednesday and dropped retardant on the Hayden Pass Fire.
Sorry, but the extremely low resolution photo above was the only one we could find of a DC-10 on the Hayden Pass Fire.
(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.
Tanker 912 departing runway 34 heading north out of McClellan Air Field June 11, 2016 while working a fire on the Klamath National Forest. Photo by Matthew Rhodes.Thanks Matthew!
Above: Tanker 912, a DC-10, follows a U.S. Forest Service lead plane and makes a water drop during training Wednesday, April 6, 2016. 10 Tanker photo.
10 Tanker Air Carrier has been conducting annual training and for their DC-10 crews this week near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Wednesday evening, April 6, they started their first contract a month earlier than planned and moved Tanker 912 to the air tanker base in Roswell, New Mexico to standby for the fires in Oklahoma.
We read a news report yesterday saying a very large air tanker was available for the Oklahoma blazes, but thought it must have been an error. Apparently not.