Coulson Aviation has five heavy global aircraft on contract in Australia operating across three States – two CH-47D very large helitankers, an S61 Sikorsky helitanker, and two fixed wing aircraft being a C-130 Hercules and Boeing 737 FIRELINER™.
Boeing 737 FIRELINER™
The Fireliner is capable of dropping up to 15,000 litres of retardant or water, the highest volume of any large airtanker.
The B737 Fireliner has a range of 4,200 kilometres.
It has a cruise speed loaded of 430 knots. It has seating capacity of up to 72 passengers without requiring the aircraft to be reconfigured.
The C-130 Hercules
The C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Martin.
The C-130 has a capacity of 15,000 litres, or 4000 gallons, and is one of the world’s most powerful aerial firefighting aircraft due to its range and versatility.
The Coulson RADS-XXL four-thousand US gallon roll-on/roll-off tanking system makes for a quick and easy conversion from a fire suppression configuration to an equipment transport configuration.
The CH-47D
The Chinook is a fast, high volume very large helitanker with the ability to undertake operations day and night.
The firefighting configuration of the Coulson CH-47D offers an operational endurance of up to 2.2 hours combined with an average ferry speed of 135 to 140 knots.
The Coulson CH-47D is fitted with the Coulson RADS-L delivery, a Retardant Aerial Delivery System (RADS), capable of carrying up to 3000 US-gal. (11,000 lt.).
The RADS-L is an internal tank system with controllable doors to disperse firefighting fluids at a constant flow rate and desired quantity through the belly of the aircraft. Coulson Aviation is approved to undertake NVG-operations in Australia with the CH-47D.
The S-61
Coulson Aviation’s fleet of Sikorsky S-61s are the rotary wing workhorses of the fleet with the ability to transport firefighters and undertake aerial firebombing during the day and night.
The Sikorsky S-61N is a versatile helitanker that can operate tanked with a capacity of approximately 4000 litres, or with a long line bucket.
Coulson certified the first four thousand litre Sikorsky S-61 collapsible belly tank; that can be removed and/or replaced in under thirty minutes.
Coulson Aviation has CASA approval to undertake NVG operations in the Sikorsky where required as part of a contract.
Coulson Aviation Australia additionally operates on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service a Boeing 737 Large Air Tanker, 2 X Cessna Citations and 2 X Bell 412 helicopters.