0920_September Comstock's Magazine September 2020 | Page 86

McClellan Park
McClellan Air Force Base was dedicated
in 1939 and operated until 2001. The
base was a key asset for the United
States during World War II.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MCCLELLAN PARK
“Having our airport and FBO (fixedbase
operator) under one company benefits
customers because two entities have
input on projects,” says Bill Appleton,
vice president of McClellan Jet Services.
“They can come to any of us with their
needs, and under one stakeholder, it
doesn’t have to go through a long chain of
command.”
McClellan air traffic includes the
California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection and its contract companies’
firefighting fleets, such as the Coast
Guard’s Air Station Sacramento fleet;
general aviation including business flights;
military overflow from Travis Air Force
Base; and some charter cargo flights.
“We’re ideal for aerial firefighters, but
we see many business flights because of
nearby state agencies and large companies,
and (we see) medical and law
enforcement flights because of large
medical facilities nearby and the fact that
we’re open and staffed 24 hours a day,
every day of the year,” says Appleton.
Aerial Firefighting
Upon reopening the airport as the base
closed, McClellan Park and Sacramento
County leaders recognized that private
ownership would boost McClellan as an
economic engine and job creator. McClellan
Jet Services has been operating since
2001, but transfer of the airport from
Sacramento County Airport System to
McClellan Park wasn’t finalized until 2017.
“Privately owned, public-use airports
are unusual in the U.S., and most are
geared to single-engine, general-aviation
uses, while we have the scope of a former
Air Force Base,” says Scott Owens, executive
vice president and chief operating
officer of Sacramento McClellan Airport
and McClellan Jet Services.
When McClellan Air Force Base
closed in 2001, the state moved its major
Cal Fire aerial operations in. Cal Fire uses
McClellan as a maintenance hub, training
center and staging base for its fleet of
about 60 firefighting aircraft.
“McClellan is centrally located for
firefighting and can accommodate even
the largest air tankers with space, runway
length, fueling and the ability to pump
the most fire retardant of any base in the
world,” says Dennis Brown, senior chief
of aviation for Cal Fire. “Beyond that, it’s
economically viable for our vendors, and
the McClellan people are forward thinkers
who do all they can for us.”
The world’s only Boeing 747 air tanker
operator uses McClellan too. Global Super-
Tanker Services began operating in 2016
with a 747 converted to a very large air
tanker or VLAT, a classification for planes
able to deliver more than 8,000 gallons
of water or retardant. Most missions are
contracts with Cal Fire or the U.S. Forest
Service, but the plane also has fought fires
in other countries and continents.
Dan Reese, Global SuperTanker president
and former coordinator of Cal Fire’s
first VLAT program, has seen McClellan’s
evolution as an aerial firefighting hub. “In
2008, Cal Fire brought the first VLAT into
McClellan with a portable retardant plant
to service tankers,” he says. “McClellan has
now become one of the most robust permanent
air tanker bases in the country, and we
greatly appreciate staging our aircraft here.”
Private Tenants Too
“My vision for the airport is an emergency
logistics hub because our location,
infrastructure and 24/7 FBO are ideal for
that, so we form extensive relationships
with the government agencies operating
here to help them fulfill their missions,” says
Owens. “However, that doesn’t preclude
general aviation and private companies.
86 comstocksmag.com | September 2020