With snow on the ground at Minden Airport following recent Winter storms along the Sierra Nevada chain, crew began stripping the civil interior of the four-engined commercial Regional jetliner, which formerly operated as N606AW of Air Wisconsin, a provider of services to United Airlines and United Express. The aircraft was recently purchased by Minden Air and delivered quite literally, the day after it flew its last passenger flight, according to Mike Graham, the son of the Minden Air owner.

According to Graham, the test this past year of another BAE-146 jetliner utilizing sandbags to simulate weight provided "spectacular results." While Minden Air awaits a Department of Forestry decision on whether or not its two Neptune tankers will fly Air Attack missions again, work was already progressing at a fast rate on the 70-112 passenger airliner.

Graham indicated that this is the only BAE-146 owned by the company at this time. He indicated that the main cabin would accomodate the Phos-check tank assembly, while the forward cargo compartment would be converted to include a similar louvered "bomb bay" door set up currently utilized by the two Lockheed SP-2H Neptunes operated by Minden Air.

The aircraft is currently in United's blue-grey colors, with the logo and logotype painted over, but will have to be repainted for Air Attack work which requires Tanker numbers and hi-visibility paint schemes for easy spotting and aircraft recognition.

Powered by the Textron Lycoming ALF 502R-5, the Minden Air BAE146-100 Air Attack Tanker will be faster, quieter and less costly to maintain than the current 1940s-era Neptunes, which were originally designed for Anti-Submarine Warfare in the post-WWII, Cold War era.

Other jet aircraft already operational or proposed for Air Attack tanker duties include the Evergreen Boeing 747, which is currently under flight test; the Russian Ilyushin-76, which is currently in service and the A-10 Firehog (proposed). These aircraft have been under development prior to or in the wake of a series of tragic accidents which caused the grounding of a large number of older, piston-engined Air Attack Tankers in the Forestry fleet.

The news today of work commencing on the Minden Air BAE146 follows reports this week that Hawkins & Powers (H&P) , which owned two Air Attack Tankers involved in fatal crashes involving metal fatigue and cracking, has shut down Air Attack Tanker operations in Greybull, Wyoming, and placed its vintage fleet up for sale. H&P's website indicates that Vintage examples and older Air Attack Tanker aircraft include the "T-6, J3, A-26, L-18, C-82, C-119, C-123, KC-97, C-118, C-130A, PB4Y-2, and P2V-7."

N606AW was among the first aircraft delivered to Air Wisconsin, one of the first BAE-146 customers, in 1983. The Air Wisconsin BAE-146s operated extensively from Chicago and Denver on behalf of United Express. A photo of the aircraft in its United Express livery can be seen at: N606AW

Silver State News will have images of the aircraft undergoing conversion in Minden sometime later this week.