As fires rage out of control in Australia, additional resources are on the way to help fight the flames.
New Mexico based 10 Tanker Air Carrier is in the process of readying Tanker 911 for its departure to New South Wales, where it will remain on contract for the remainder of the Australian fire season.
Tanker 911 will be contracted to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service during its time downunder and will become one of several LAT’s working to combat fires that are currently burning around the state. The state has had an early start to a fire season many are predicting is already unprecedented in New South Wales.
The 10 Tanker Air Carrier DC-10 is capable of carrying 9,400 gallons (over 35,000 liters) per load in three multi stage drop tanks consisting of two tanks capable of dropping 2,700 gallons each and a center tank capable of dropping 4,000 gallons that can be configured to drop as single stage drops or to drop the entire load depending on the mission in as little as four seconds.
The DC-10 carries a staff of two pilots and a flight engineer on each mission and carries a minimum of 2.5 hours of fuel on board for every mission.
