Tanker 910 is the call-sign of a wide-body jet air tanker currently in fire service. The aircraft, operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, is a converted McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft used for fighting wildfires, typically in rural areas. The aircraft, currently registered as N450AX, was originally delivered as a civil passenger plane to National Airlines in 1975, and subsequently flew for Pan Am, American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Omni Air International. The conversion of the original airframe to a fire-fighting aircraft was a joint venture under the name of 10 Tanker Air Carrier between Cargo Conversions of San Carlos, California and Omni, with conversion work being performed by Victorville Aerospace at the Southern California Logistics Airport at Victorville, California. The water or retardant is carried in three center-line belly tanks. The tanks have internal baffles to prevent fluid shift (and consequent shift in center of gravity) while in flight, and sit with a 15 inches (38 cm) ground clearance. All three tanks can be filled simultaneously on the ground in eight minutes. The retardant is gravity-fed out of the tanks, and the entire load can be dumped in eight seconds, although the actual drop rate is computer controlled by the flight crew in order to produce the desired retardant spread over the fire lines. The aircraft is capable of applying a line of retardant 300 feet (91 m) wide by 1 mile (1.6 km) long. The number of drops it can make in a day is only limited due to the time it takes to reload the jet with water/fire retardant and fuel, as well as its need for a proper landing field, which may well be a considerable distance from the subject fire. Because of the aircraft's limited maneuverability, California Department of Forestry (CAL FIRE) officials have said that it will not be used on all fires, and will not be used as an initial attack aircraft One drop from Tanker 910 is equivalent to 12 drops from an S-2 Tracker. Initially, the aircraft is intended to be operated primarily in California, and the entire state will be serviced from the plane's Victorville base, but in 2007 the CAL FIRE began looking into setting up a second operations base at the former Mather Air Force Base outside Sacramento, California. [READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE]
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