A319 arrives for 18-month conversion project ahead of service entry with US operator for 2028 firefighting season
Neptune Aviation has taken delivery of what is believed to be the first Airbus to be configured for aerial firefighting.
The Missoula, Montana-based company, which operates a fleet of nine BAe 146s, announced its order for the A319 in December 2024 after a two-year evaluation of platforms on the market.
The 2002 airframe – mostly recently in service with defunct Scandinavian leisure carrier Braathens International Airways before going into storage in Castellon in Spain – will undergo an 18-month conversion at maintenance, repair and overhaul firm Commercial Jet in Dothan, Alabama, ahead of a planned service entry in time for the 2028 firefighting season, says Neptune’s vice-president of operations Nic Lynn.
Neptune worked with Toulouse-based engineering specialist Aero Concept on the adaptation, although the US firm will hold the air operator’s certificate.
The A319 offers a payload of around 17,000 litres (4,500USgal), 50% more than the BAe 146’s. It is also faster, more powerful, and a newer airframe that is still supported by the manufacturer with a wide availability of parts and service options.
“All that was very important when it came to choosing the airframe,” says Lynn, who notes that Neptune also assessed the Boeing 757.
A potential negative with the A319 might have been the Airbus’s fly-by-wire architecture, especially in situations where the aircraft has to fly slow and low and manoeuvre sharply. However, Lynn dismisses these concerns, and says Airbus and the US Federal Aviation Administration have been supportive of Neptune’s efforts to introduce the type to the aerial tanker market.
“Yes, this will be the first fly-by-wire aircraft in a firefighting environment, but the airplane will stay in [normal] law, and all our testing shows that it works and the airplane handles very well. It’s stable with good flight characteristics while flying low,” he says. “Once you turn off the autopilot, it’s just an airplane.”
The availability of A320 family-rated flightcrew is another advantage, although training an airline pilot to become a firefighting specialist is not straightforward. “If they are type-rated we need to teach them fire tactics and to fly low level. We work in an environment that most pilots spend a career trying to minimise the time they [stay in],” says Lynn, who adds that it will typically take about four years to train a first officer recruit to become a captain of a firefighting aircraft.
The company is upgrading its training simulator to make it “more realistic”, says Lynn, but he admits: “It’s really hard to create a fire environment without an actual fire.”
The lifestyle of a firefighting pilot can be another challenge when finding staff, with rotations typically three weeks in what can be an intense, stressful and often risky activity. “That’s what most people struggle with,” Lynn says.
Neptune, founded in 1993 and one of the largest private aerial firefighting operators in North America, plans to add another “five or six” A319s while holding onto its BAe 146s “for another 10 years or so, depending on parts supply”, adds Lynn. “We envisage having a fleet of between 10 and 15 aircraft over the next decade.”
The conversion will involve stripping most of the interior out, before strengthening the floor, drilling holes for the retardant chutes, and installing tank pumps.
The aluminium tank itself will be produced in pieces which will be carried through the passenger door before the entire structure is reassembled inside the cabin.
Neptune, which also operates five Gulfstream 690A Aero Commanders in an air attack role, outsources its aircraft and crew to customers who are typically federal or state agencies in the United States or foreign government entities.
While there have been company collapses in the firefighting sector – most notably 747 Supertanker operator Evergreen and its successor Global SuperTanker Services, which declared themselves bankrupt in 2013 and 2021 respectively – Lynn sees no danger in the company overstretching itself in terms of fleet.
“Fire seasons are getting longer and agencies are starting to realise that,” he says. “There is currently a very high demand for aircraft, especially at short notice.”
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