By Skies Magazine | February 7, 2023 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 8 seconds.
British Columbia-based Coulson Aviation has confirmed that two of its pilots are safe after their 737 FireLiner, Tanker 139, was “involved in an accident” while fighting wildfires in Western Australia on Feb. 6.
The two pilots were the only people on board the aircraft at the time of the accident.
Coulson Group CEO Wayne Coulson said in a statement that “both pilots walked away from the accident, have been medically assessed . . . have been released from hospital, and are now recuperating.
“They were deeply shaken to have something like this happen while fighting for the community,” he added. “We are very grateful [they] are safe.”
According to Coulson, Tanker 139 was over the Fitzgerald River National Park fire when it went down at around 4:40 p.m. local time.
Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) confirmed that the pilots removed themselves from the air tanker and were subsequently taken to Ravensthorpe Airport by helicopter, where they were then taken to medical care.
Coulson stated that the company is “not in a position to speculate . . . about the cause of the accident,” but it will “work with DFES, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, and any other relevant authorities to understand the cause of the crash.”
The company has a fleet of six 737 FireLiner aircraft, which were converted from 737 commercial airliners into tankers and branded by Coulson Aviation as the FireLiner. The company said it is the first in the world to achieve a conversion like this — with each aircraft requiring more than 43,000 technician hours “to become fully compliant and operational.”
Tanker 139 is the latest addition to Coulson Aviation’s FireLiner fleet, and the aircraft had just been awarded a two-year contract in Australia in mid-January, according to a company press release.
Coulson confirmed that one of the company’s C-130 aircraft, Tanker 132, was “tasked to the same fire as Tanker 139” on Feb. 6, and the crew were “immediately released from the fire operations” following the crash of Tanker 139.
“Support is in place for those team members,” he added.
Coulson Aviation’s C-130 Hercules is equipped with the company’s proprietary 4,000-US-gallon RADS-XXL roll-on roll-off tanking system. According to the company, it is “one of the world’s most powerful aerial firefighting aircraft due to its range, versatility, and suppression ability per drop.”
Coulson Aviation, which has been providing aerial support in Australia for nearly 20 years, said it currently has three of its large air tankers Down Under, and all three aircraft are on a “stand down day for welfare” in response to the recent accident.
“[We are] grateful for the support being provided by our firefighting and aviation industry colleagues in Western Australia,” shared Coulson.
