The fire-fighting muscle of Tanker 979 does not come cheap. One report, has it costing about $1 million each time the plane is activated for a drop from its current home at McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento, Calif. Wahlberg would not say what the State of California is paying his firm to prep, load and fly the jet, which is under contract until Friday.
“We’ve been paid for three drops so far,” Wahlberg says. “Look, we grub-staked the development of this plane on our own because we thought the firefighting business needed it. Every bit of revenue helps, and we think inside of three years we’ll recover all our research and development money and be on our way.”
Last year California alone spent almost $500 million fighting emergency fires. The global price tag to combat fire runs into the tens of billions. Wahlberg envisions a fleet of 10 supertankers operated by Evergreen in spots around the world, and even more operated by government agencies built with conversion kits sold by Evergreen. The company recently demonstrated its plane in Europe and is talking to agencies in Australia and Indonesia, Wahlberg says. After years of testing and demonstrations, this is the supertanker’s first paying gig, and Wahlberg is aware of all the eyes on his plane.
So far, it’s doing the job by all accounts, laying down fire lines to protect homes near San Bernardino. “Everybody waits to see what’s going to happen when the plane is working on a real fire,” Wahlberg says. “We’ve got one now, a huge one, and already the calls are coming in.”
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