The 747 supertanker firefighting aircraft will be making a comeback, of sorts, for combatting wildland fires.
Originally conceived by Evergreen Aviation here at KMZJ, the Evergreen Supertanker was a program to convert up to 4 of Evergreen Airlines' 747-100/200 freighters to firefighting planes known as VLATs, or Very Large Air Tankers, and sporting a 20,000+ gallon water/retardant capacity (as compared to 12,000 gallons of the DC-10 VLATs). Evergreen converted one 747-200, N470EV as Tanker 947 and operated it in the test and operational role overseas fighting fires in Israel. Then the systems were transferred to a company 747-100, N479EV as Tanker 979, and it completed fire seasons in California; before the US Forest Service decided not to contract the 747 any longer due to cost. The program slowed down, never had its fleet of four 747s, and eventually went defunct when Evergreen declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy a few years back. Tanker 979s sister 747-100/200s are awaiting the scrap heap here at MZJ, and Tanker 979 was placed out to pasture to await its fate.
Just very recently, several individuals involved in the former Evergreen program, including engineers and pilots, have resurrected it in the form of GlobalSupertanker Services. They have acquired a former JAL 747-400CF to convert, and will be removing the system out of N479EV/979. Tanker 979 is now on the MZJ main ramp, pulled from pasture, to have its tanking/drop systems removed and prepared for transfer. Following that, 479EV will likely join it's sister 747 classics on the scrap side of the airfield here. But the 747 will be returning to the skies as a firefighting asset, to be based at KCOS in Colorado.
Story here:
http://gazette.com/colorado-springs...efighting-aircraft-in-country/article/1557267
Tanker 979/Supertanker here:
Sister ships that were never converted: (photos by MikeD)
Originally conceived by Evergreen Aviation here at KMZJ, the Evergreen Supertanker was a program to convert up to 4 of Evergreen Airlines' 747-100/200 freighters to firefighting planes known as VLATs, or Very Large Air Tankers, and sporting a 20,000+ gallon water/retardant capacity (as compared to 12,000 gallons of the DC-10 VLATs). Evergreen converted one 747-200, N470EV as Tanker 947 and operated it in the test and operational role overseas fighting fires in Israel. Then the systems were transferred to a company 747-100, N479EV as Tanker 979, and it completed fire seasons in California; before the US Forest Service decided not to contract the 747 any longer due to cost. The program slowed down, never had its fleet of four 747s, and eventually went defunct when Evergreen declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy a few years back. Tanker 979s sister 747-100/200s are awaiting the scrap heap here at MZJ, and Tanker 979 was placed out to pasture to await its fate.
Just very recently, several individuals involved in the former Evergreen program, including engineers and pilots, have resurrected it in the form of GlobalSupertanker Services. They have acquired a former JAL 747-400CF to convert, and will be removing the system out of N479EV/979. Tanker 979 is now on the MZJ main ramp, pulled from pasture, to have its tanking/drop systems removed and prepared for transfer. Following that, 479EV will likely join it's sister 747 classics on the scrap side of the airfield here. But the 747 will be returning to the skies as a firefighting asset, to be based at KCOS in Colorado.
Story here:
http://gazette.com/colorado-springs...efighting-aircraft-in-country/article/1557267
Tanker 979/Supertanker here:
Sister ships that were never converted: (photos by MikeD)
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