DC-10 Airliner Attacks Big California Wildfires

UPDATED: 23 October, 2007

Here in the Western U.S., water tanker aircraft are often used to fight forest fires.  Most these aircraft are propeller-driven warbirds -- ex-military C-130s, P-3 Neptunes, or S-2 Trackers that have been repurposed to serve on the front lines of firefighting. Recently, however, a new aircraft has been spotted above California's smoke-filled skies: A DC-10 widebody airliner. 

Known as Tanker 910, this DC-10 was originally delivered to National Airlines in 1975 as N69NA (shown right).  It later flew for Pan Am as Clipper Starlight before spending another 10 years hauling passengers for American. By 2002, the tired hull was retired to the desert boneyards of Mojave, California. In 2004, the aircraft got a new lease on life when it was acquired by Omni Air International and converted to a water-drop configuration by Cargo Conversions of San Carlos, California.

Reborn as a firefighter, Tanker 910 can carry up to 50 tons of water or fire-retardant in three external tanks, and it can dump 12,000 gallons of retardant on a blaze in as little as eight seconds, laying down a wet blanket 50 feet wide and as much as .8 of a mile long.  The aircraft flies with a four-person crew, and California Department of Forestry (CDF) -- the state's forest fire-fighting agency -- has signed up to lease 910 at a cost of $26,500 per hour. Since a single drop from Tanker 910 is equivalent to 10 to 12 drops from one of the CDF's S-2 Trackers, the DC-10 is best suited to suppressing very big fires.

One of those big fires broke out near Tehachapi, California a few weeks back, in June 2007.  While flying at low altitude in preparation for a drop, Tanker 910 hit a downdraft that slammed the aircraft perilously close to the ground — so close, in fact, that the plane ripped through the tops of several trees.  The crew was able to power out and regain altitude, and the plane landed without incident, but the photo at right shows how banged-up Tanker 910 looked afterward.

The bad news is that the accident damaged the leading and trailing edges of the jet's left wing, including the leading-edge slats, ailerons, and flaps. The good news is that the outboard engine escaped unharmed, and the damaged bits were all non-structural, bolt-on components.

Within a month Tanker 910 was repaired and back on fire duty. One of our Associates recently spotted 910 battling a blaze near Santa Barbara, and despite the accident, CDF director Ruben Grijalva remains sufficiently impressed with the firefighting DC-10 that he's asked California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to fund three more years of real-world testing and evaluation.

UPDATE, 23 October, 2007
Tanker 910 is playing a major role in battling the huge wildfires that have engulfed Southern California. Find out more and watch the video at our updated post: DC-10 Fire Tanker Joins the Fight Against SoCal Blazes; Supertanker 747 Sits Idle

LINKS:
Airtanker - Tanker 910 (CDF factsheet .pdf)

NTSB preliminary report on Tanker 910's tree-scrape incident

CDF evaluation of Tanker 910's Firefighting abilities (by Ruben Grijalva, Director,     California Department of Forestry and Fire  Protection

UPDATE (31 August, 2007)
DC-10 Water Bomber Saves Cupertino (and Apple's HQ?)

(Photo: Top, Tanker 910 by Pascal Malliot.)

Comments

[haveacupoftea]

There was also this B747 fitted as a firefighting water tanker last year :
http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertanker/
Looks like it missed the action...

[pqbon]

I was under the impression one of the reasons jets weren't used for fire fighting was that the jet engines didn't due well in the environment.
I thought that some of those fire thermals carry debris that would be harmful to the engine? and that the super heated air would be bad for jet combustion.

What I want to know is when will the fire guys get air frames that aren't really old. IIRC there have been a few cases in recent years of fire planes falling apart in the air /on take off/etc... I remember wings coming off and such.

[Telstar Logistics]

Yes! I've been keeping an eye on the Evergreen 747 as well. The BIG difference is... .the DC-10 has a paying client -- the state of California -- and it's actually being used to fight fires. The US Forest Service has not issued a certification for the DC-10 or the 747, so the 747 remains unemployed.

[Troy]

Nice to see one come OUT of the boneyard flying.

[Tom Purcell]

Looks like tanker 910 saw some action down in Cupertino today. There's a couple of good action shots in the channel 5 report.

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=26348@kpix.dayport.comhttp://cbs5.com/video/?id=26348@kpix.dayport.com

I'm sad I wasn't there to see it. I think 12,000 gallons of orange goo flying out of the bottom of a DC-10 is high on my list of things I'd like to witness in person before I die.

[Brian Cantoni]

I'm glad Tom pointed to the CBS5 video which was pretty decent. I'd love to see some clear pictures of the tanker in action today in Cupertino. On the radio they reported the first drop and said it was returning to Victorville and would return here around 6pm. The news on TV didn't make it clear, so I'm wondering if they came back for a second drop.

After the 400 mile flight back to Victorville, I wonder what the turnaround time is. It must take a while to refill that 12,000 gallon tank!

[Telstar Logistics]

Thanks for the tips! I added a new post about the Cupertino fire here

[Dan Lindsay]

910 is working well in the Santa Barbara fire area! Keep it coming!

[img]http://media.independent.com/img/ads/gapfire/TankerDropHi.jpg[/img]

[Smokey]

Just what they need in Australia to fight bush fires. Amazing!

[Shower Stalls]

We should put out house fires this way. Itd make a good tv show.