NepTunes FIGHT ON

Air Classics, Apr 2005 by O'Leary, Michael

For the 2004 fire fighting season, two instrumented P-2s were brought back into operation

As readers are well-aware, misguided decisions from the US Forest Service resulted in the grounding of the majority of heavy fire fighting aircraft for the 2004 season. The USFS classified the planes as "obsolete" and "dangerous." The net result was a greatly decreased force to combat the nation's forest fires and valuable resources were destroyed by the bureaucratic rulings. The unfortunate loss of a C-130A Hercules and PB4Y-2 Privateer due to wing failures motivated the decision. The NTSB investigation revealed that the A model Hercules had an inherent wing weakness which would lead one to wonder if operators could not retaliate against the government for supplying the aircraft to them. The Privateer failure was traced to a 60-year-old production defect peculiar to that one aircraft.

So, in one giant move a government agency grounded all C-OOAs, PB4Ys, C-54s, DC-6/7s, and P-Zs and exposed our national resources to an increasing threat. The Lockheed P-3 Orions owned by Aero Union have been allowed to operate even though these aircraft are also viewed with a bit of suspicion but the fact they are turbine-powered makes them more "modern." The huge gap left by the refusal to use the heavy tankers was attempted to be filled by a fleet of helicopters and single-engine air tankers (SEATS). However, a number of these machines were destroyed during the season but without the publicity that surrounded the loss of the Hercules and Privateer.

The government action has resulted in the closure of several companies as well as unemployment for hundreds of pilots and ground crews. The USFS seems to be determined to finding out what the airframe "life" is for each type of aircraft. Measuring a plane's operational life in the number of hours flown or the number of gear cycles is something fairly recent to aviation. Back when the Douglas C'54 Skymaster was built there was no such thing as airframe life. The Skymaster was built rugged and it showed it by operating successfully in a number of roles spanning decades.

Rose Davis, a spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, stated "The OSL (operational service life) information wasn't provided to us from ARDCO (Aerial Retardant Delivery Co)." ARDCO operates three very well-maintained C-54s from their base at Ryan Field near Tucson, Arizona. Davis also said that this information was needed by Dyncorp Technologies, a firm hired by the government, to evaluate the fire bombers' airworthiness.

Davis said they plan to talk to the original equipment manufacturer, Douglas Aircraft Co., which is now part of the Boeing Co., to find out if the C-54s are too old to continue operating. The Forest Service said they need to know what the manufacturers expected when they built the airplane. Then an engineering study is to be undertaken to incorporate the types of missions they have flown, stated Davis.

It must be noted that ARDCO's planes were not grounded by the FAA. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano ran into obstacles from the Forest Service when she tried to hire ARDCO for use in fighting major fires within Arizona this past season. The Forest Service informed Napolitano that the C-54s could not fly over any fires on Forest Service land nor use any of four Forest Service air tanker bases and that Arizona might lose federal funding for fighting fires if ARDCO planes were used.

One of the most professional fire bombing outfits is Neptune Aviation in Missoula, Montana, who suddenly found themselves out of business with the grounding of their fleet of immaculate Lockheed P-2 Neptunes (see Air Classics March 2000 "Mission With Tanker 05"). Forest Service officials inspected the company's maintenance base and facilities along with those of Minden Air in Nevada and an agreement was reached where one aircraft from each company would be allowed to operate for part of the fire season provided they be fitted with sensors in the wing and an onboard computer for recording flight stresses - especially during fire drops.

We had a chance to meet up with both these planes at Fox Field, Lancaster, California, towards the end of the 2004 fire season. Our old friend and veteran fire bomber pilot Capt. Peter Bell (chief pilot for Neptune) gave us a tour of Tanker 44. As was expected, the inside of the big twin-engine former Navy patrol bomber was in fine shape. "The Neptune is an extremely strong, versatile aircraft that can deliver its retardant load on target in a most cost-effective manner," said Bell. Currently, Neptune is converting two Lockheed Electras to fire bombers but they also hope to get their Neptunes back on contract.

Minden's Tanker 48 was also in fine shape. Minden operates two Neptunes but can convert several other airframes to tankers. Like Neptune, they are also busy at work on new tankers - their project being the conversion of a British Aerospace BAe 146 four-jet airliner to a tanker with the help of the manufacturer.