Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Fire Plan banner

National Fire Plan Success Story

Smokejumper Airlines: C-23A Sherpa Program Runs Like the Airlines
PNW Regional Aviation Group, Redmond, Oregon
National Fire Plan - Firefighting
2009

Parts shelves within the Parts Distribution Center.

Parts shelves within the Parts Distribution Center.
Parts Distribution Center.

USDA Forest Service Region 6 (Pacific Northwest or PNW) is the “Hub” for the C-23A Sherpa Program that supports the Smokejumper Programs in Region 1 (Montana, northern Idaho), Region 5 (California), Region 6, and Region 10 (Alaska). These aircraft undergo an extensive “winter” maintenance program that sometimes includes complete engine and propeller teardown, major airframe inspections, and component overhaul. Recently added was the new Parts Distribution Center, which currently stocks about $20 million dollars in parts that are used locally, or shipped anywhere the Sherpa’s are, if needed.

This “state of the art” parts center is similar to that used by commercial airlines and allows for inventory control, minimum and maximum level verifications, and uses the latest computerized parts bar-coding system. Brian Green, Sherpa Maintenance Coordinator, and Aircraft Safety Inspector, with the support of contractors Bill Dolf and Erik Rustand, have inventoried each part in bins and in a computer database. According to David Heydt, R6 Aviation Maintenance Program Manager, “having our own “high tech” Parts Distribution Center has already saved tens of thousands of dollars in management fees and time, because we no longer have to wait for parts to be shipped from 3rd party vendors that are subject to delays in shipping and “out of stock” parts. We know exactly what we have and we know exactly when we need to reorder parts and hardware well before running out.”

The Redmond Air Center supports not only the Smokejumper aircraft, but also maintains a Cessna 206 used for aerial photography and other administrative flights throughout the western United States. It also houses 3 Aerial Supervision Module Beechcraft King Airs lead planes and has 2 additional Aviation Safety Inspectors, James Reed and Michael Cook, who inspect most of the PNW Vendor Contract fixed-wing, helicopter, fuel trucks and mechanics. David Heydt said “for a facility that started out as a “cold storage” hangar to park aircraft in, things sure have changed and we now are one of the largest maintenance facilities in the U.S. Forest Service.”

For more information contact David Heydt, Redmond Air Center, 541-504-7250. dheydt@fs.fed.us.