747-400 Global SuperTanker
gets ready for action
·
23 MARCH, 2016 - BY: JAMES
DREW
The world’s
largest aerial firefighting asset, the Boeing 747-400-based Global SuperTanker,
is almost ready to begin commercial operations.
Jim Wheeler, president and chief
executive of Global SuperTanker Services, based in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, expects the US Federal Aviation Administration to approve an amended
supplemental type certificate in early May.
Investment group Alterna Capital
Partners completed its purchase of the 747-400, which it part-owned for several
years, in August, with the aircraft having undergone a heavy maintenance check
the following month.
“We had 28 airworthiness
directives we had to comply with, and all of that work was done to put the
airplane back into pristine condition,” Wheeler told Flightglobal at the Aerial
Firefighting International trade convention in Sacramento, California on 23
March. “Then we began painting and installing the tanks in the January/February
timeframe.”
The heavy-lift freighter,
registration N492EV, was received by Japan Airlinesin 1991 and sold on to
Evergreen International. It is currently flying under an experimental type
certificate and is on static display at the convention.
Once it begins commercial
operations, Wheeler expects to secure several on-call service contracts with
various entities worldwide. He expects enough demand between firefighting in
the northern and southern hemispheres, plus oil slick dispersion and commercial
liquid transport, to justify a fleet of "at least three aircraft, and
maybe more”.
“It’s based here in the US and
it will probably be on-call here more than anywhere else, but we have been to
Australia, Germany, Croatia, France and the European Union in Brussels
discussing this and the reception has been superb,” says Wheeler. “Being global
and having a broader business plan than just wildfire fighting makes this an
incredibly viable product and service offering to the whole world.”
Global SuperTanker is looking
for on-call contracts over fixed, exclusive-use deals, so that its aircraft can
be available whenever and wherever they are needed most.
The tanker fills a worldwide gap
in super-heavy, long-range aerial firefighting capability, left by the
retirement of the Evergreen 747-100 Supertanker because of financial troubles.
That tanker previously held on-call firefighting contracts with the US Forest
Service, and one of its last deployments was to Israel during the deadly Mt
Carmel forest fire.
Global SuperTanker now owns the
technical data and onboard tanking system, which is installed but not quite
ready for service. “We were delayed about three weeks longer than we
anticipated in the paint shop, so as soon as it leaves here [Sacramento], it’ll
go back and finish the tank installation, which should take anywhere from seven
to 10 days,” Wheeler explains.
The eight main tanks can carry
74,200l (19,600gal) of water, retardant or oil dispersant. Powered by four
General Electric CF6-80-B1F engines, the 747-400 can carry that load over
4,000nm (7,400km) at speeds approaching 520kt (960km/h).
Wheeler notes that despite its
sheer size and capacity, the SuperTanker is safer than many direct-attack water
bombers for people on the ground, because its payload is dispersed over a wider
area – more like heavy rain than a water dump.
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