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Coulson Aviation

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Aviation company based in Canada
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Coulson Aviation base on Sproat Lake

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. It operates in Canada, the United States, Australia and Chile.

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.


Active fleet

Coulson Aviation currently has 21 aircraft (excluding business jets) active as of July 20, 2024

Fixed wing aircraft

Fire bombers

Tanker 133 at Rogers Field
Tanker 133 at Rogers Field, Chester CA
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
  • 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

Command and control aircraft

Cessna Citation

Coulson also operates a further two Citations in Australia on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service:

Rotary wing aircraft

Coulson Aviation currently has 17 Rotary wing aircraft in service (as of July 20, 2024

CH-47 Chinook

Sikorsky S-76

Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk

Sikorsky S-61

Bell 412

Coulson also operates two helicopters in Australia on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service:

Previous fleet

Coulson Aviation previously operated two Martin Mars flying boats, the Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars.

Past deployments

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.

Incidents

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. 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. 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

  1. "Coulson Aviation to bring another C-130 airtanker online this summer". Skies Magazine. 14 March 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  2. "Coulson Aviation extends aerial firefighting support with new contracts in Chile". Skies Mag. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  3. Collision with terrain involving Lockheed Martin EC-130Q, N134CG (PDF) (Report). Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 29 August 2022. p. 38. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  4. "Legislative Council - Home Business Papers - 7318 - Police and Emergency Services - LARGE AIR TANKER". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2024-08-10.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. "NSW RFS Aviation Communiqué #24 - April 2020". New South Wales Rural Fire Service. Retrieved 2024-08-10.
  7. "COULSON AVIATION". COULSON AVIATION. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  8. Mellis, Eilidh; Bungard, Matt (2020-01-23). "Three dead as air tanker fighting bushfires crashes near Snowy Mountains". WAtoday. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  9. 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

Current airlines of Canada
Flag carrier
Passenger and
regional airlines
Charter
Cargo
Firefighting
Helicopters
See also: List of defunct airlines of Canada


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