The New South Wales Rural Fire Service-owned and Coulson Aviation Australia operated 737 FIRELINER™ has arrived home from the USA.
The Boeing 737 Marie Bashir, flying as Bomber 210, has spent more than 57 days operating in the USA working more than 40 fires at the request of the United States Forest Service.
The NSW aircraft and Coulson Aviation team members have flown firefighting missions in Idaho, Minnesota and Montana, protecting communities and supporting US fire agencies during a tough season.
Before returning to Australia for the New South Wales summer, the NSW RFS 737 underwent a routine maintenance check in San Bernardino. This was a scheduled maintenance check required by law .
Within a week of arrival, crews chalked up a first for Australian firefighting with the NSW RFS 737 FIRELINER™ deployed to a US fire. While in operation, the aircraft dropped 1.8 million litres of fire retardant/water in 166 drops across 40 fires.
The 737 was crewed by both Australian and North American Coulson team members during its time overseas. It joined a number of Coulson Aviation owned and operated aircraft under contract to fire agencies across the United States.
Coulson Aviation and Coulson Aviation team members are proud to support communities and fire agency personnel across the globe.