At Jeffco Air Tanker Base (ATB) at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, Colorado, the pumping systems are being pressure tested and repaired after the cold winter, and general de-winterisation is being performed in preparation for a busy year.
Jeffco ATB is named after the airport, Jefferson County Airport (Jeffco), but in 2006 the airport was renamed Rocky Mountain Metro – the ATB, however, kept the old name.
With a couple of fires already starting the previous week, Jeffco ATB become the first base to come online in the Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2, which includes Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming and South Dakota), and a Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) was positioned from Fort Collins, Colorado, on standby on Friday 16th March. Queen Bee Aviation operates the Air Tractor AT-802A on a rolling contact.
Later in the day a P2V-5 (P-2 Neptune) from Neptune Aviation in Missoula was also staged ready to begin its nomadic tour for the year.
Tanker 44 was the aircraft that ran off the runway and through the perimeter fence at this very airport back in June 2010 and was repaired at the airport over a period of months before being ferried to Missoula.
She now sports wording on the nose "Tanker Four X Four" – it's nice to see the company can keep a sense of humour with this word-play.
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