The SuperTanker … People's lives and properties are at risk and millions of animals are perishing! But the line of retardant that can be delivered to the ground in one run is significantly more effective than that of … Evergreen’s 747 Supertanker We talked with Steven Daniels who leads the Supertanker program at Evergreen . Current fire-fighting aircraft can only refill if there is a handy lake near the fire. The Bushfires in Australia are out of control. The Global SuperTanker, a Boeing 747-400, will help some states fight wildfires. Their 747, Tanker 979, holds 20,000 gallons, about seven times more … Although the Global Supertanker can refuel and refill with water/retardant in 30 minutes, they weren’t doing it that day. Let\'s give this aircraft a chance to prove itself. A converted Boeing 747-400 used to fight fires is a great example of old technology reborn with a new purpose. It can return from Southern California for a refill in Sacramento in about 45 minutes. We cannot control the weather, but we can better control the fires, and we need massive and immediate counteract now ! The Global Supertanker started life as a standard passenger Boeing 747-446 with Japan Airlines (JA8086). Originally built as a passenger jet for Japan Airlines (registration JA8086), the 26-year old 747-400 was converted into a supertanker and re-registered as N492EV in 2012. Now called The Spirit of John Muir, its the largest firefighting airplane in the world by far. The 747 is also the fastest plane in the force, flying about twice the speed of your normal airliner. The 747 supertanker takes around 30 minutes to fill on the ground, longer than some other tankers and much more than the few minutes needed for the S2-T Cal Fire tankers. ... it takes only 13 minutes to refill the plane before returning to the sky. It was converted by Evergreen to a supertanker to replace their ageing 747-100 tanker, when the company went into liquidation in December 2013.In August 2015, a new entity called Global Supertanker Services emerged and bought all of the physical assets of the previous Evergreen operation. Global Supertanker, the aircraft’s owner, says the 747 Supertanker can refill with gel, foam or water in just 30 minutes and can fly at 600 miles per. In January 2016, the aircraft was re-registered yet again with the tail number it bears today, N744ST — a fitting registration for the 747-400 (744) SuperTanker (ST). The Super-Tanker - is amongst the most powerful firefighting airplanes in the world - it can hold over 68,000 litres of water or fire-retardant, and can So we killed time by visiting the ag operator’s hangar, finding and using a restroom, and talking. 747 Supertanker aircraft helping battle California's historic wildfires. We were told it would be at least 90 minutes. 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