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Coulson Aviation
 Coulson Aviation is an aviation company headquartered in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. The company's fleet specialises in air tankers used for aerial firefighting.[1] It operates in Canada, the United States, Australia and Chile.[2] The company operates both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The company's operations included helicopter logging, forest fire suppression, power-line construction, airliner passenger, transport, and other industrial heavy lift operations. Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc. is a subsidiary of Coulson Aircrane Ltd. Coulson Aviation contract rotary and fixed-wing aircraft to Australia and the US from Canada.[3]
Active fleetCoulson Aviation currently has 21 aircraft (excluding business jets) active as of July 20, 2024 Fixed wing aircraft Lockheed C-130 Hercules
Boeing 737
Command and control aircraftCessna Citation
Coulson also operates a further two Citations in Australia on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service:[5]
Rotary wing aircraftCoulson Aviation currently has 17 Rotary wing aircraft in service (as of July 20, 2024
Sikorsky S-76
Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk
Sikorsky S-61
Bell 412Coulson also operates two helicopters in Australia on behalf of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service:[6]
Previous fleetCoulson Aviation previously operated two Martin Mars flying boats, the Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars. Past deploymentsOn 5 December 2022 Coulson aviation sent one of its C130Hs to Busselton Regional Airport as part of a 4-year firefighting contract. The aircraft did weekly equipment tests.[7] IncidentsIn 2020, a Coulson Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed while aerial firefighting for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service during Australia's black summer bushfires, resulting in the deaths of three American firefighters.[8] The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) determined the cause of the collision was likely due to the dangerous weather conditions, low-level wind shear and an increased tailwind, leading to the aircraft stalling while releasing fire retardant foam at a low height and airspeed and colliding with terrain. In 2023, a Boeing 737-300 aircraft known as Bomber 139 and operated by Coulson Aviation crashed in the Fitzgerald River National Park in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia while fighting multiple fires.[9] The cause of the crash was the pilots dumping fire retardant below the minimum altitude. The final report was published by the ATSB on 6th of November 2024. References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coulson Aviation.
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