AT 1002
The Air Tractor AT-1002A single seat agricultural and firefighting aircraft made its first appearance at the 43rd Annual National Agricultural Aviation Association Convention and Exposition in Reno, Nevada. The airplane made its first test flights only days before, on November 25, 2009 according to Leland Snow, Air Tractor company president. Air Tractor Chief Pilot Troy Vaught was at the controls during the test flights, and during the 7-hour flight to Reno. He reported the new airplane flew well. The AT-1002A is Leland Snow’s twentieth ag plane design, and is five times as large as his first airplane, the S-1, which was test flown in 1953.
A Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67F 1600 SHP turbine engine powers the 1002A. The engine turns a 5-blade Hartzell 118.7 inch diameter propeller. The 1002A is the largest aircraft produced by Air Tractor, and has a takeoff and landing weight of 20,000 pounds, with a useful load of more than 10,800 pounds.
In its aerial firefighting role as a Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT), the AT-1002A can carry as much as 1,060 gallons (4,012 liters) of fire retardant. The fuel tanks hold 521 gallons. In agricultural spray plane models the fuel tanks can be blocked off in the field to hold 335 gallons, maximizing the working payload.
The 1002A is the “big brother” to the 16,000-pound gross weight AT-802 and 802A, long popular with the aerial spraying and firefighting industries. Since 1993, more than 325 AT-802 series aircraft have been delivered to customers around the world. The AT-802F has become the dominant single engine air tanker in the United States; 77 of the aircraft were contracted for aerial firefighting during the 2009 fire season.
“The AT-1002A will be in even greater demand than the AT-802F for firefighting because of two features,” says Leland Snow. “First, with the same fuel load as the 802, the AT-1002A will carry 35 percent more load in the hopper. Second, the fire doors are 56 percent larger than the fire doors on the AT-802F. This allows a much greater coverage level, making the AT-1002A well suited for high fuel content wildfires.”
Both the AT-802F and the AT-1002A are equipped with the new Trotter Controls Generation II Fire Retardant Delivery System (FRDS). This system delivers a precise flow of retardant through the fire gate to provide consistent retardant coverage on the ground. Coverage levels can be set by the pilot, which minimizes retardant waste and increases effectiveness. “The Gen II FRDS has remarkable diagnostic features that allow the pilot to quickly determine what has gone wrong if there is trouble. It also has several levels of redundancy to assure the fire doors open and close when activated,” adds Snow.
“We believe that the AT-1002A will become the ‘world’s firefighting airplane,’ because no other purpose-built firefighting airplane can carry a thousand gallons of retardant, drop it with computer-controlled consistency and accuracy, and offer this kind of operating cost efficiency,” states Snow.
According to Snow, FAA certification of the AT-1002A is expected before the end of 2010. The initial production rate for the AT-1002A will be about 12 aircraft, or about one a month. Snow added that demand for the new aircraft may well exceed the first year’s production. “If the AT-802 can be used as a guide, then we can anticipate there will be equally high demand for the AT-1002A. Our new manufacturing facility expansion is now complete, and we have the resources to meet the demand.”
A Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67F 1600 SHP turbine engine powers the 1002A. The engine turns a 5-blade Hartzell 118.7 inch diameter propeller. The 1002A is the largest aircraft produced by Air Tractor, and has a takeoff and landing weight of 20,000 pounds, with a useful load of more than 10,800 pounds.
In its aerial firefighting role as a Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT), the AT-1002A can carry as much as 1,060 gallons (4,012 liters) of fire retardant. The fuel tanks hold 521 gallons. In agricultural spray plane models the fuel tanks can be blocked off in the field to hold 335 gallons, maximizing the working payload.
The 1002A is the “big brother” to the 16,000-pound gross weight AT-802 and 802A, long popular with the aerial spraying and firefighting industries. Since 1993, more than 325 AT-802 series aircraft have been delivered to customers around the world. The AT-802F has become the dominant single engine air tanker in the United States; 77 of the aircraft were contracted for aerial firefighting during the 2009 fire season.
“The AT-1002A will be in even greater demand than the AT-802F for firefighting because of two features,” says Leland Snow. “First, with the same fuel load as the 802, the AT-1002A will carry 35 percent more load in the hopper. Second, the fire doors are 56 percent larger than the fire doors on the AT-802F. This allows a much greater coverage level, making the AT-1002A well suited for high fuel content wildfires.”
Both the AT-802F and the AT-1002A are equipped with the new Trotter Controls Generation II Fire Retardant Delivery System (FRDS). This system delivers a precise flow of retardant through the fire gate to provide consistent retardant coverage on the ground. Coverage levels can be set by the pilot, which minimizes retardant waste and increases effectiveness. “The Gen II FRDS has remarkable diagnostic features that allow the pilot to quickly determine what has gone wrong if there is trouble. It also has several levels of redundancy to assure the fire doors open and close when activated,” adds Snow.
“We believe that the AT-1002A will become the ‘world’s firefighting airplane,’ because no other purpose-built firefighting airplane can carry a thousand gallons of retardant, drop it with computer-controlled consistency and accuracy, and offer this kind of operating cost efficiency,” states Snow.
According to Snow, FAA certification of the AT-1002A is expected before the end of 2010. The initial production rate for the AT-1002A will be about 12 aircraft, or about one a month. Snow added that demand for the new aircraft may well exceed the first year’s production. “If the AT-802 can be used as a guide, then we can anticipate there will be equally high demand for the AT-1002A. Our new manufacturing facility expansion is now complete, and we have the resources to meet the demand.”
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