On December 22, the first firefighting plane acquired by the provincial government from Coulson Aviation landed in Santiago del Estero. It is a Boeing 737 FireLiner.
At 18:20 Argentine time, the aircraft from Port Alberni (YPB), Canada, touched down. The flight included three stops in Salt Lake City (SLC), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), and Leticia (LET), Colombia, since it departed on December 20th.
The Boeing 737-300, registered as LQ-KJS, is 28 years old and previously belonged to the U.S. airline Southwest. It was converted into a Boeing 737 FireLiner by Coulson Aviation.
This aircraft, owned by the government of Santiago del Estero, was acquired for $15 million. It will be based at Termas de Río Hondo Airport (RDH), where the necessary infrastructure, including a rapid water intake system, has been installed. Provincial authorities also mentioned that the plane will be able to operate from other aerodromes such as Quimilí and Monte Quemado.
Coulson Aviation is the first and only company in the world to convert a commercial Boeing 737 into a FireLiner tanker. Each aircraft undergoes more than 40,000 hours of technical training to become fully operational.
The new plane in Santiago del Estero is equipped with Coulson’s Retardant Aerial Delivery System (RADS), the most widely used and highest volume 15,000-liter tank system currently operating worldwide.
RADS requires no additional crew or equipment, provides real-time flow, superior coverage of the drop area, and reduces the overall workload of the pilot.
