Even though the DC-10 last carried commercial passengers in 2014, a number of modified examples serve on able to blanket a fire with ten times the load of a small tanker, as Tom Kaminski explains.
Operated by the 10 Tanker Air Carrier company from its base at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico, four DC-10s are classified as Very Large Air Tankers (VLATs), meaning they have a liquid capacity of more than 8,000 US gal (30,283 lit). In fact, the aircraft carry up to 9,400 US gal (35,583 lit) of water or Phos-Chek fire retardant in a series of three exterior belly-mounted tanks that when emptied can cover an area around 300ft (91m) wide and a mile (1.6km) long.
Until the DC-10 air tanker entered the firefighting arena, a large number of former military aircraft and smaller propeller-driven airliners had been converted for the air tanker role. Among the largest to see regular use were the Lockheed C-130 and P-3. Both are considered to be Type I airtankers, which can carry 3,000 to 7,999 US gal (11,35630,280 lit) of water or retardant. The DC-10 is among the largest air tankers in service today and only the Global SuperTanker Services Boeing 747-400 carries a larger load. The DC-10 was first u…
