DC-10 Air Tanker

The DC-10 Air Tanker is a small fleet of aerial firefighting aircraft made by converting McDonnell Douglas DC-10 airliners, operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, a New Mexico-based joint technical venture. The conversion adds an external belly-mounted tank system to a DC-10-10 or DC-10-30, so that the aircraft can carry up to about 9,400 US gallons (35,583 liters) of water or fire retardant and release the whole load in eight seconds. Five aircraft were converted in all. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a Supplemental Type Certificate for the modification in March 2006, the first converted aircraft was used on California fires that July, and four tankers, all DC-10-30 aircraft, were reported in operation. The type has flown wildfire contracts for the State of California and the US Forest Service as well as in Australia.