March 2015
| Business World
253
the pilot workload and allows the aircraft to
fly in a safer flight profile.”This not only pro-
vides the best value to the customer, it also
eases the pilot workload and allows the air-
craft to fly in a safer flight profile
“As an example, to hit a coverage level 8 −
which is a heavy coverage − at 125 knots,
your tank needs to drop a thousand gallons
a second. At 145 knots, you need to drop
fifteen hundred gallons a second and if your
controller isn’t compensating for speed your
coverage level 8 turns into a level 4, and
that’s not going to stop the fire. By utilizing
the latest technology our “smart” tank will
automatically bump its flow rate up to com-
pensate for that higher drop speed.”
Britt is confident that this new tanking sys-
tem − in conjunction with their C-130 next
generation air tankers and Sikorsky S-61 he-
licopters − will provide Coulson Aircrane
with plenty of opportunities to experience
significant growth in the coming years.
“Because it is a unique, one of a kind system
that’s adaptable to other aircraft, we see a lot
of business growth there,” he says. “We’ll be
the only one in the industry coming out with
that type of technology here this year.”
“We’re going to continue to expand in the
firefighting arena,” he concludes. “The S-61s
do an excellent job and we’re very well estab-
lished in that market, so we’ll continue fire-
fighting with them. We’ll probably also get
some additional manufacturing underway
and really build the fixed-wing air tanker
side of the business.”
