Aerial firefighting firm 10 Tanker Air Carrier – based in Albuquerque, New Mexico – has a unique business model. As the name implies, the firm exclusively operates a fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-10 airliners, converted for use as large air tankers.

The company began firefighting operations with its first DC-10 Air Tanker in 2006. “It started with one airplane out in California, and it’s just evolved into a super solid company,” explained Joel Kerley, the company’s Chief Operating Officer.

Since then, the business and its fleet have expanded. “We now have four tanked up, and we do have another one that is untanked that we keep in reserve in case the market calls for another,” he explained, adding that if there was demand, converting the fifth aircraft could be done ‘within a year’.

Kerley added that for the 2023 fire season, all four aircraft are contracted in the USA – however, earlier in the year, ‘we were in Chile’. This is indicative of the direction 10 Tanker is looking to go – although the company plans to remain primarily US-focused, it is exploring the possibility of expanding its operations into new markets during the ‘off season’.

“In winter over here, there’s nothing going on,” noted Kerley. “There’s no way that we could send all of our aircraft overseas because we do a lot of maintenance in the winter, and a lot of hiring and training.” In particular, the company sees opportunities to offer its services in some European countries in future – particularly those along the Mediterranean coastline that have long fire seasons. “In Spain, they have a big season, so does Portugal,” added Kerley. “We’re always looking to find little niches where we might be successful.”

Contracts and working internationally

Kerley explained that 10 Tanker prefers exclusive use (EU) contracts when working with partners – but ‘internationally in the past, we have done on-call contracts’ as well.

We prefer exclusive use contracts because we can plan in advance

“Obviously,” he said, “we prefer EU contracts because we can plan in advance … but we can do both – if there’s a need anywhere in the world, we’ll listen and tell these countries what we can or can’t do – but it’s always better if we can pre-plan.”

When working outside of the USA, Kerley explained that ‘there are differences in terms of governments and the administration of how these things are carried out’. He added: “There are different levels of experience – some places are just getting into aerial firefighting and haven’t seen anything like what we do.” Despite this, 10 Tanker is able to navigate such challenges. If necessary, Kerley explained, the company is willing to offer its expertise in places where aerial firefighting is a relatively new provision.

“We have our team built in a way that we can go in and help to actually build up what we do in other countries,” he said. “We feel that there’s an opportunity when we go to a place, such as Chile or Mexico, where we can advise them on how we’re most efficiently used.”

He noted that much of the aerial firefighting expertise developed in the USA was ‘paid dearly for’ through ‘mistakes’, and asserted that sharing that knowledge in less experienced countries would allow them to ‘skip over the bad stuff’.

As far as the actual flying goes, Kerley said that 10 Tanker has never had a problem adapting to the unique geography of the countries and places they have worked in: “We train for mountainous flying all the time, so anywhere we go in the world, our airplanes and people can handle.”

More of a challenge, he explained, is coordination: “What we do like to do is bring a lead plane when we go international. It really helps us out if our people are involved with that.” He added that typically, when operating in a non-English speaking country, they will usually employ a translator onboard the lead plane to ensure that good communication is maintained: “Give us a translator and we’ll make it work.”

Recruiting and training pilots

When recruiting pilots, Kerley explained: “We find that we have the most success with people who have previously worked in firefighting, and who have that mission-centric mentality where they love what we do.”

Passion for the job is clearly important, he continued: “We’ll never be able to compete with the airlines of the world – they pay more, that’s just the way it is! So, we usually end up with people who love this mission, want to do this mission, and they stick with us, hopefully for a long time.”

We usually end up with people who love this mission, want to do this mission, and they stick with us

Pilots working with 10 Tanker undergo a range of training when working for the company. This includes annual training in National Aerial Firefighting Association (NAFA) requirements, covering a mixture of subjects including firefighting methods, tactics and strategies, radio communications, and table exercises. “Those are requirements you have to maintain every single year,” said Kerley.

Pilots are also required to conduct regular proficiency flights every 30 days. However: “A disadvantage of flying these really big airplanes is that it costs a lot to turn them on,” said Kerley. To address this, Kerley explained that the company had acquired a simulator from the Netherlands to reduce the amount of actual flying required to maintain training standards.

Maintenance and the next generation

10 Tanker’s DC-10 fleet also undergoes regular maintenance checks to ensure that the aircraft remain in shape despite the intensive use they experience throughout the fire season.

“We are required every single year to do an A check – that’s when the airplane spends at least a month and half – maybe two months – getting torn down, and has all the different parts looked at for wear and tear,” Kerley explained. “And every third year, we do a C check – basically an A check on steroids.” While the former is conducted in-house, Kerley explained that 10 Tanker typically outsources its C checks to third-party firms. “We schedule these out years in advance,” he said.

We think about the next generation every day

Despite this, Kerley acknowledged that the DC-10s will have to be phased out in favor of a newer aircraft within the next decade – but explained that his company is always looking to the future in that regard. “We think about the next generation every day,” he said. “We have not yet determined what that aircraft is, but we’re always in negotiations for that next generation. But it has to fit us, and it has to fit the market. We can’t just go out and buy a $100 million aircraft, because nobody can afford to hire that.”