Large Air Tankers
vs
very large Air Tankers
Global Aviator April 2018 / Vol. 10 / No. 4 61
When Needed contracts to fill in for the
S-2 fleet. We were in an Exclusive Use
contract with the state of California with
one of our BAe 146 large air tankers,
but it ended on December 31. The
availability period typically lasts from
June to September for the aircraft.”
Owning a VLAT would be
prohibitively expensive for CAL FIRE,
which restricts most of its operations
to California. The agency instead
offers CWNs to the VLAT companies,
which is a risky way of running a
business. Snyder continues: “While it
pays very well when used, operating
your company in this manner without
the security of regular income doesn’t
provide a long-term future.”
During 2017, CAL FIRE issued
CWN contracts to company’s operating
the Large Air Tankers (LATs) or
Very Large Air Tankers (VLATs). It
led to the likes of 10 Tanker (DC-
10s), Global SuperTanker (Boeing747), Ericson Aero Tanker (MD-87s),
Coulson Aviation’s Air Tanker (C-
130 Hercules) all joining the fight.
A CWN dictates a company has 24
hours to respond, while an Exclusive
Use demands 30 minutes. Snyder,
Neptune’s COO since January 2010
adds: “The risk goes to contractor,
operator and builder of the asset. It
works well with helicopters, where
one day it can be firefighting with a
bambi-bucket, then another day haulingAlan Warnes investigates the
choices both the US Forestry
Service and CAL FIRE have when
it comes to fighting the big fires.