By Joshua Murdock
Independent Record
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican representing Montana and the founder of multi-national aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, is trying to end annual U.S. Forest Service inspections of aircraft contracted to fight wildfires.
The Forest Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has conducted its own annual inspections of aircraft, in addition to standard Federal Aviation Administration inspections, for about half a century following a spate of deadly accidents in the 1960s and ‘70s. Firefighting aviation has become significantly safer since then, but some deadly accidents have still occurred.
Neptune Aviation’s Tanker 02, pictured here at the company’s Missoula hangar June 8, 2023, was grounded early in 2024 due to corrosion caused by a new magnesium chloride fire retardant the plane dropped around wildfires in 2023. Tanker 02 was one of two large air tankers in the U.S. that used the retardant and were grounded.
A year ago, Forest Service inspections of air tankers that carry fire retardant revealed that a newly developed type of retardant caused corrosion on two aircraft: a Neptune Aviation plane based in Missoula and an Erickson Aero Tanker plane based in Oregon. Both were grounded pending further investigation and repairs. The Neptune tanker was repaired in time for the 2024 fire season; the Erickson tanker did not fly that season. Erickson has begun to fly the plane again this year.
Sheehy, who himself has experience as a wildland firefighting pilot and the founder of a company that contracts aircraft to the Forest Service, reportedly met with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in March to advocate that the Forest Service no longer conduct its own inspections of contracted aircraft. Such inspections, he later said in a statement, are redundant to those already performed by the FAA and thus are unnecessary. A similar dynamic of agency-specific inspections beyond the FAA also exists in other agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management within the Department of the Interior.
Bridger’s aircraft have operated for years with Forest Service certification. A source familiar with Bridger’s internal operations confirmed that the company has never been denied certification carding from the Forest Service. In other words, eliminating Forest Service inspections would not seem to affect whether Bridger can contract with the agency.
E&E News, a news organization covering energy and the environment that was acquired in 2020 by Politico, was the first to report Sheehy’s effort to end the inspections, in a story published online Tuesday morning.
Michael Dudley, a retired director of fire, aviation and air management for the Forest Service, told E&E that eliminating the agency’s independent inspections of contracted aircraft “moves us backward in our safety culture.”
Multiple wildfire aviators and flight crew members told the Missoulian they supported keeping the Forest Service’s aircraft inspections and were concerned about potential safety ramifications of ending those inspections. They spoke on the condition their names not be used because of possible professional retaliation for discussing the topic.
Of the contracted aircraft, one crew member stated that they “prefer aggressive maintenance and in-depth inspections, so I stay alive while flying in them.”
Another stated they believed the move by Sheehy was a conflict of interest because of his involvement in the aerial firefighting industry. They said the Forest Service inspections are warranted and eliminating them would be “a step back in our safety culture, for sure.”
In a statement to the Missoulian Wednesday afternoon, Sheehy cited a shortage of Forest Service aircraft inspectors as another reason to eliminate inspections that he characterized as duplicative.
“Agency carding of firefighting aircraft is a relic of a bygone era and has become an unnecessary barrier to asset availability,” he stated, referring to the agency’s inspection and certification process. “With inspector shortages increasing year over year and shifting interpretation of standards, redundant carding has hindered aerial firefighting capability. The FAA already regulates airworthiness of aircraft and that should be sufficient.
“The agencies must of course confirm the aircraft has the required special equipment, such as radios and suppression systems, associated with the mission, but as long as that equipment is appropriately STCed,” he continued, referring to the FAA’s issuance of a Special Type Certification for firefighting aircraft, “the FAA certificate of airworthiness should be sufficient.”
Through a spokesperson, the Forest Service declined to comment on the inspections and any possible changes to them.
A variety of aircraft engage in different roles in aerial firefighting. Air tankers, which range from crop-duster-size single-propeller planes to massive wide-body jetliners, drop fire retardant around the edges of wildfires to slow their advance. Scooper-style water bombers, generally single or twin-prop airplanes, scoop water into internal tanks by skimming lakes or rivers and then drop the water directly on flames. Helicopters with internal tanks or buckets suspended beneath them also pick up water and drop it on flames. Smokejumper aircraft ferry firefighters who parachute into blazes; helicopters often insert and extract firefighters, equipment and supplies. And a variety of helicopters and small airplanes conduct reconnaissance and help to coordinate air operations from above.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, founded Belgrade-based Bridger Aerospace in 2014 and the company made its public debut on the stock market in 2023. The company operates a fleet of “Super Scooper” water bombers and recently penned an agreement to acquire faster, larger-capacity, longer-range water bombers being developed by a French manufacturer. Sheehy stepped down as CEO in 2024, the same year he was elected to Congress — his first time in elected office. Bridger has made hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from its Forest Service contracts.
Sheehy’s background gives him an unusual depth of expert knowledge and personal experience with aerial firefighting for a member of Congress. He has also proposed consolidating federal firefighting efforts under a single new agency, rather than various agencies each having their own forces.
“We are working to change the regulations to this effect, among many other changes, so that we can provide the maximum number of safe aircraft to the teams fighting fire when they are needed most,” Sheehy said of eliminating Forest Service inspections. “This is one of many steps we can take to more effectively protect our communities from wildfire.”
That same background could create at least the appearance of a conflict of interest for the senator: He still owns millions of dollars in Bridger stock, according to his most recent financial filing, as he simultaneously pushes to remove a layer of regulation on aviation companies including Bridger.
Jack O’Brien , a spokesperson for Sheehy, addressed that possible perception in a statement Wednesday.
“Sen. Sheehy believes strongly that personal assets should not influence the decision making of those who were elected to serve. He has not and will not personally trade stocks in the Senate,” O’Brien wrote. “To go even further, he is giving up control of his portfolio by placing his liquid assets, which includes any Bridger Aerospace stock, in a blind trust to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Sen. Sheehy has been clear one of his top priorities in the Senate is using his expertise to stop the catastrophic wildfires destroying American communities, and he is not going to apologize for it.”
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