Firefighters may get big boost from new 747 tanker

McMINNVILLE, Ore. — Crews battling forest fires this summer may see a load – a BIG load – of reddish-pink fire retardant streaming from a converted Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Evergreen International Aviation has spent more than a year converting one of the jets to a tanker, and it could be ready by July.

The company says it would be the nation’s first firefighting jet and can carry 10 times as much water or retardant as a conventional tanker.

Though it won’t be able to navigate narrow canyons, pilots say it still is versatile.

It can carry a 20,000-gallon payload, and has made about 50 test flights in Arizona.

“It represents one of the most advanced pieces of firefighting equipment that’s come along in a long time,” said Mike Padilla, the chief of aviation for the California Department of Firefighting Protection, which hopes to test the jet for its own needs this summer.

The jet still needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

It comes at a good time. The U.S. Forest Service recently grounded its 33 largest tankers because of safety concerns after two crashed in 2002. Some members of Congress are trying to get at least some of the tankers restored, but the Forest Service is eager to update the aging fleet.

Federal agencies have not yet said they will use the jet this summer and say they might not be able to afford it in any case.

Evergreen has not decided on a price for the plane, which costs millions of dollars to prepare. Evergreen officials say they don’t intend the plane to replace other tankers, but rather to act as a new tool for fighting the largest fires.

“Once we get something coming out of a forest with a large front, this really becomes a natural,” said Penn Stohr, Evergreen’s chief of supertanker operations and a longtime pilot of retardant planes.

An early question was whether the plane could fly slowly enough to drop its load on the right place.

But while the 747 is made to cruise at high altitudes in a thin atmosphere, its wings have slats that provide for extra lift in thicker air at lower altitudes. Thus it can stay in the air at relatively low speeds of 170 mph.

Stohr said Evergreen is preparing to set up at airports around the country that could serve as operating bases for the big tanker, only a few hours from any fire.