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A Northwest aerospace company has bought six Boeing Co. 737 passenger jets from Southwest Airlines to convert them into aerial firefighting tankers. It appears to be the first time that Boeing's single-aisle workhorse will be enlisted to fight wildfires from above, dumping 4,000 gallons of fire retardant chemicals at low speed and low altitude. via…
A Northwest aerospace company has bought six Boeing Co. 737 passenger jets from Southwest Airlines to convert them into aerial firefighting tankers.
It appears to be the first time that Boeing's single-aisle workhorse will be enlisted to fight wildfires from above, dumping 4,000 gallons of fire retardant chemicals at low speed and low altitude.
Southwest is getting rid of it's 737-300 fleet, so Coulson probably got them for a steal.
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Hope they are cheap, as water bombers either crash early or stress out their airframes early. Water ain’t exactly light. At least a 737 isn’t doing in-flight refilling (I hope).
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The story said they were getting the six planes for the cost of one c-130. They didn’t say if that was a brand-new plane cost or used, but either way sounds like a deal.
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8 pounds per gallon, so 32,000 lbs of water.
Leaves another 30k# worth for the fuel and the water handling equipment.
So just under 5 of these will be equivalent to one of the Evergreen Supertankers.
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XBradTC 
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