External 2,900-Gal Tank Grants Significant Firefighting Capability to Garden Variety CH-47s

Helitak Firefighting Equipment has shown off their FAA STC for the new FT-11K retractable aerial firefighting tank, used in CH-47 Chinook helicopters. 

The design can be fitted onto any Chinook with no permanent modification to the landing gear or aerostructures, attaching to the underside of the fuselage of the aircraft. The design is good for those whose aircraft fly around the year, and allows them to push some of the fleet into double duty come firefighting season.

The FT-11K, being an external kit, allows operators to continue to use the internal space of their Chinook up to their payload limit, useful for when they have to tank up on retardant, water, or crewman on their way out to a mission field. With a 2,900-gallon capacity (or 24,000 lbs), the tank still leaves about 4,000 lbs of useful load available given a rough estimate of 28,000 lbs payload. Once the mission is done, the FT-11K can be removed from an aircraft in "30 minutes", though that estimate probably applies more to experienced crews. The kit can be had with hydraulic or electric pumps, as well as Helitak’s Fire Tank Controller system. When so equipped, the suite “controls and records variable application rates, water collection and delivery GPS, maintenance and operations data telemetry”.

“As a team, we are ecstatic to finally have the FT-11K tank certified by the FAA after many years of development and testing at our facility in Australia, and the hard work of the team at Rotak Helicopters that assisted us in gaining the FAA STC for the product and we look forward to seeing the tank during a successful first season on deployment with Rotak as the launch customer for the product,” said Jason Schellaars, CEO of Helitak. “I am immensely proud of the work put in by over one hundred people in two countries that helped make this product a reality for the market as the largest capacity firefighting tank available for a helicopter."

FMI: www.helitak.com.au