The US Forest Service (USFS) has reduced the number of exclusive use air tanker contracts for the 2018 fire season to 13, compared to 20 last year. A further eleven tankers will receive call-when-needed contracts. Neptune Aviation has received exclusive use contracts for BAe 146 air tankers 01 (msn E2045), 03 (msn E2192), 16 […]
Aero-Flite recently placed its Avro RJ85 Air Tankers into service. Both N839AC/Tanker 160 (msn E2270) and N354AC/Tanker 161 (msn E2256) were ferried to Redding on 25 July, Tanker 160 from Missoula, where her crew had been training, and Tanker 161 from Abbotsford, via Portland. Both then moved on to Moses Lake in […]
Conair Avro RJ85 air tanker N839AC/Tanker 160 (msn E2270) began retardant drop tests on 11 December. The tests, which measure the volume and consistency of drop patterns, are being conducted at Fox Field in southern California. Passing these tests is a critical step in obtaining Interagency AirTanker Board certification. Tanker […]
Conair‘s first RJ85 air tanker conversion, N839AC (msn E2270), made her first flight on 21 August. Unlike Tronos’ air tankers, Conair’s conversion uses an external tank. The 3,000 US gallon tank is attached to the bottom and the sides of the fuselage, a configuration that Conair had already used on […]
The US Forest Service awarded its long-awaited ‘Next Generation’ air tanker contracts, worth USD158 million, on 6 May. The contracts had been initially awarded in August 2012, but then rescinded after the General Accountability Office (GAO) upheld protests from some of the un-successful bidders. The new recipients include Minden Air, […]
Canada’s Conair Group has begun flight-testing its air tanker conversion of the Avro RJ85. Former Lufthansa RJ85 N839AC (msn E2270 ex D-AVRI) was modified at Conair’s Abbotsford base. She has been painted in the colors of Conair’s US subsidiary, Aero-Flite. In June, AeroFlite had received a contract from the US […]
A protest threatens to derail the contracts for new air tankers issued by the US Forest Service (USFS) in mid-June. The new contracts covered two more 146 tankers from Neptune Aviation, to be brought on-line in 2012, two from Minden Air, one to begin in 2012 and one in 2013, […]
Just two weeks after giving Neptune Aviation a contract for its first BAe 146-200 air tanker, the US Forest Service (USFS) has issued contracts covering several more BAe 146 and Avro RJ tankers. Neptune Aviation received contracts for an additional two 146 tankers, while Minden Air received a contract for […]
