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Coulson Aviation is an aviation company headquartered in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. The company's fleet specialises in air tankers used for aerial firefighting.[1] It operates in Canada, the United States, Australia and Chile.[2]
The company operates both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The company's operations included helicopter logging, forest fire suppression, power-line construction, airliner passenger, transport, and other industrial heavy lift operations. Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc. is a subsidiary of Coulson Aircrane Ltd. Coulson Aviation contract rotary and fixed-wing aircraft to Australia and the US from Canada.[3]
Active fleet
[edit]Coulson Aviation currently has 21 aircraft (excluding business jets) active as of July 20, 2024
Fixed wing aircraft
[edit]
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
[edit]- Bomber 130 (C130H)
- Bomber 131 (EC130Q) (N131CG)
- Bomber 132 (C130H) (N132CG)
- Bomber 133 (C130H) (N140CG)
- Bomber 136 (C130H) (N136CG)
- Bomber 138 (C130H) (N382CG)
Boeing 737
[edit]- Bomber 137 (737-3H4) (N137CG)
- Bomber 210 (737-3H4) (N138CG) - also known as 'Marie Bashir'.[4] This aircraft was purchased in 2019 by the Australian New South Wales Rural Fire Service[5] and is operated under contract by Coulson.
Command and control aircraft
[edit]Cessna Citation
[edit]- N1200N (Cessna 550 Citation II)
- N554CG (Cessna 550 Citation II)
- N550CG (Cessna 550 Citation II)
- N552CG (Cessna 550 Citation II)
Coulson also operates a further two Citations in Australia on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service:[5]
- Fire Scan 200 (VH-VJT) (Cessna 560 Citation V)
- Fire Scan 201 (VH-VJO) (Cessna 560 Citation V)
Rotary wing aircraft
[edit]Coulson Aviation currently has 17 Rotary wing aircraft in service (as of July 20, 2024
- HeliTanker 47 (N47CU) (CH-47D Chinook)
- HeliTanker 55 (N43CU) (CH-47D Chinook)
- HeliTak 211 (N49CU) (CH-47D Chinook)
- N49CU (CH-47D Chinook)
- N40CU (CH-47D Chinook)
Sikorsky S-76
[edit]- N509HH (Sikorsky S-76B)
Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk
[edit]- HeliTanker 60 (N60CU) (Sikorsky UH-60A Blackhawk)
- N745AW (Sikorsky UH-60A Blackhawk)
Sikorsky S-61
[edit]- N745AW (Sikorsky S-61N Mk. II)
- N476AW (Sikorsky S-61N Mk. II)
- N471WR (Sikorsky S-61N Mk. II)
- HeliTanker 47 (N161CG) (Sikorsky S-61N)
- HeliTanker 61 (N261CG) (Sikorsky S-61N)
- HeliTak 348 (C-FXEC) (Sikorsky S-61N Mk. II)
Bell 412
[edit]Coulson also operates two helicopters in Australia on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service:[6]
- HeliTak 203 (VH-VJD) (Bell 412EP)
- HeliTak 204 (VH-VJF) (Bell 412EP)
Previous fleet
[edit]Coulson Aviation previously operated two Martin Mars flying boats, the Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars.
Past deployments
[edit]On 5 December 2022 Coulson aviation sent one of its C130Hs to Busselton Regional Airport as part of a 4-year firefighting contract. The aircraft did weekly equipment tests.[7]
Incidents
[edit]In 2020, a Coulson Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed while aerial firefighting for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service during Australia's black summer bushfires, resulting in the deaths of three American firefighters.[8] The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) determined the cause of the collision was likely due to the dangerous weather conditions, low-level wind shear and an increased tailwind, leading to the aircraft stalling while releasing fire retardant foam at a low height and airspeed and colliding with terrain.
In 2023, a Boeing 737-300 aircraft known as Bomber 139 and operated by Coulson Aviation crashed in the Fitzgerald River National Park in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia while fighting multiple fires.[9] The cause of the crash was the pilots dumping fire retardant below the minimum altitude. The final report was published by the ATSB on 6th of November 2024.
References
[edit]- ^ "Coulson Aviation to bring another C-130 airtanker online this summer". Skies Magazine. 14 March 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "Coulson Aviation extends aerial firefighting support with new contracts in Chile". Skies Mag. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ^ Collision with terrain involving Lockheed Martin EC-130Q, N134CG (PDF) (Report). Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 29 August 2022. p. 38. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ "Legislative Council - Home Business Papers - 7318 - Police and Emergency Services - LARGE AIR TANKER". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2024-08-10.
- ^ a b "Coulson Aviation and New South Wales Government Secure Deal to Purchase Coulson Fireliner with 10 Year Operational Contract" (Press release). Vancouver, BC: Coulson Aviation USA. 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2024-08-10.
- ^ "NSW RFS Aviation Communiqué #24 - April 2020". New South Wales Rural Fire Service. Retrieved 2024-08-10.
- ^ "COULSON AVIATION". COULSON AVIATION. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
- ^ Mellis, Eilidh; Bungard, Matt (2020-01-23). "Three dead as air tanker fighting bushfires crashes near Snowy Mountains". WAtoday. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ^ Myles, Cameron (2023-02-06). "Plane crashes as firefighters battle blaze in WA's south". WAtoday. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (license statement/permission). Text taken from Collision with terrain involving Lockheed EC130Q, N134CG, 50 km north-east of Cooma-Snowy Mountains Airport (near Peak View), New South Wales, on 23 January 2020, Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
External links
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