Fire in the Sky?

Tankers Back In the Air to Fight Fires

By Courtney Lowery, 5-26-05

	Scott Poniewaz/New West Neptune Aviation's tankers will back in action to fight this summer's wildfires according to the Forest Service.

The Forest Service has given the OK for nine air tankers to go back into the air to fight fires as early as this summer. Seven of the planes come from Missoula, Montana-based Neptune Aviation and two come from Minden Air Corp. in Minden, Nevada. Neptune's tankers had been grounded after the Forest Service denied contracts for the tankers last spring. Minden's tankers had been flying, but on a restricted basis. The revocation of those contracts came after three tanker crashes, including one that killed a crew of three in 2002 near Reno, Nevada. The Forest Service had been struggling to keep a full fleet after losing the tankers, but after more research, the agency deemed several, including the nine P2-Vs reassigned today, safe to fly.

"We welcome these two contractors back to the fleet and back to the fight," Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said today in a conference call with reporters.

After the groundings, the Forest Service had reconfigured its firefighting fleet, but making up for the loss proved expensive ($40 million more than usual, Rey said. He did not speculate how much this year's fleet would cost with the old air tankers back in the mix).

Having these large fixed-wing aircrafts back in the air help the fleet's flexibility and keep costs down, Rey said, because the reconfigured fleet had to employ more helicopters and other aircraft to cover the same amount of ground.

"We can move them faster over longer distances than we can with helicopters," he said.

Rey said the tankers could be up in a few weeks after initial inspections are done. The first inspections should be completed this weekend, he said.

This could bring a collective sigh of relief to Western states awaiting what experts are predicting to be a hairy fire season this summer. But the long-term health of the overall fleet still needs work as these tankers near their their maximum flight hours, Rey said. There are a few companies out there developing new equipment and aircraft and Rey said a few of them are nearing being certified for use.

For this fire season, the Forest Service's fleet will include:
At least six large helitankers and helicopters and more than 700 helicopters total;
28 single engine airtankers as well as about 70 on standby;
Six CL215 and CL415 airtankers;
Eight military C130 aircraft outfitted with modular airborne firefighting systems;
Seven P3 airtankers; and
Up to nine P2V airtankers ( once the inspections are completed ).

For Neptune Aviation in Missoula, the news comes after a difficult year. The company said after losing the contract that it would be a big hit, big enough to consider cutbacks -- but it would hold out for another shot at the contract in order to keep their 100 employees on staff.

That prompted Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. to get involved, pushing hard for the return of the tankers to the fleet. He announced their return to the air today, hailing the Forest Service's decision.

“This is the full meal deal," Baucus in a release. “We’ve said all along that Neptune has the best safety record in the industry. It’s unfortunate it’s taken so long, but today’s announcement shows that working together works. As we stare down the barrel of what could be another bad fire year, having these planes at the ready is reassuring to all of us as Montanans."

Neptune's Christian Holm told a crowd at a press conference late Thursday upon hearing the news, "The reaction was that of elation and joy. The past year has been a tough one."

There had been some negotiations between Neptune and the agency over the cost of the contract revocation on the company. Rey said the return of the contract will factor into those settlement discussions. Holm said Neptune's accountants were taking another look at the negotiations.

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