The Forestry Commission will be making its first airplane purchase this year as part of a move to modernize its aging fleet of 10 aircraft.
Fire staff have identified a 1999 Cessna 182 that the agency will put into service later this year to replace its oldest plane, a 1963 Cessna C-182 now in the Piedmont Region. Pee Dee Pilot James “Heavy” Price will be assigned the new aircraft, and his old plane will replace the formerly oldest 1963 model.
The “new-to-us” plane is 26 years old, but it will be the newest model in the agency’s inventory. It will also be the only plane that the Forestry Commission has ever bought; all the other aircraft in service are on loan from various Federal Excess Property Program (FEPP).
Protection Chief Darryl Jones says the Forestry Commission has enough money to purchase another plane, hopefully later this year; fire staff continue to look for an available and affordable model to replace the next-oldest plane in the agency.
