Neptune Aviation

Neptune Aviation officially known as Neptune Aviation Services Inc. is an aerial firefighting company based out of Missoula International Airport in Missoula, Montana. It provides aerial support and firefighting to the United States and Canada.

Neptune Aviation Services Inc.
Founded1993 (1993)
HubsMissoula International Airport
Fleet size10
HeadquartersMissoula, Montana, United States
Employees225 (2017)
Websiteneptuneaviation.com

Neptune is a privately owned aerial firefighting company in the United States. They are registered with the National Wildlife Federation, United States Forest Service and the Canadian Wildlife Federation. In 2015, Neptune provided aerial support for almost 125 fires mostly in the Western United States.

History
A Lockheed P-2E(AT) aircraft in 2002

Neptune Aviation was founded in 1993 and began operations that same year. The foundation of the company was the result of the purchase of Black Hills Aviation in Alamogordo, New Mexico. In 1994, they moved to their current facilities in Montana. At that time during the mid-to-late 90s, 14 aviation services and a nationwide fleet of 44 aircraft, provided aerial firefighting services under 3-year exclusive use contracts with the United States Forest Service. Of the 44, Neptune operated 6, all P2V Neptune airtankers.

Since its inception, Neptune has been successful in acquiring and reacquiring airtanker contracts with the US Forest Service. Neptune was the first- ever US operator to contract with the USFS in 2011 for a Next Gen aircraft in the form of Tanker 40, a converted British Aerospace BAe 146. Starting in 2013, Neptune began phasing out its Lockheed P-2 Neptune aircraft and now flies an all BAe 146 fleet.

Fleet

Current fleet

Neptune currently operates a fleet of 9 firefighting air-tankers. This fleet includes 9 modern BAe 146 aircraft equipped with the innovative REV 3 tank capable of delivering a payload of 3,000 gallons of fire retardant. In 2017, Neptune retired its venerable fleet of 7 Lockheed P2V aircraft. These aircraft will find new homes in 2018 in museums around the country as follows:

Alamogordo Airport/ALM (Alamogordo, New Mexico) N203EV (former Evergreen Tanker 142)

Estrella Warbirds Museum (Paso Robles, California) Tanker 7 (P2V-5)

Glendive Airport/GDV (Glendive, Montana) Tanker 5 (P2V-5)

To be determined Tanker 12 (P2V-5)

T61 Memorial & Klamath Falls Air Base (Klamath Falls, Oregon) Tanker 6 (P2V-5)

Yankee Air Museum (Belleville, Michigan) Tanker 45 (P2V-7)

San Diego Air & Space Museum (San Diego, California) Tanker 43 (P2V-7)

Neptune Aviation Services Tanker 44 (P2V-5)

Tanker 14 (P2V-5)

A British Aerospace 146 dropping fire retardant on the Happy Camp Complex Fire in the Klamath National Forest in California.

Neptune has a current all BAe 146 fleet of nine aircraft.

Neptune Aviation Fleet[1]
Aircraft In service Orders Notes
British Aerospace BAe 146 10 — All pre-owned by many American, European and Asian

airlines. The average age of the fleet is 29.1 years (as of July 2017)

Past fleet
Aircraft Number Retired Fate Notes

Incidents and accidents

See also

References
  1. "Neptune Aviation Services Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  2. Missoulian, the Associated Press and the. "Neptune Aviation slurry bomber crashes in Colorado". missoulian.com. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
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