The aircraft was being readied for US Forest Service operation at the USFS Redmond Air Center. Originally built in 1984 as Short 360 c/n SH.3636 it served initially with Aer Lingus Commuter as EI-BEL and then Gill Airways as G-SBAC. In 1996 it swapped it's single fin for two smaller ones when it was converted to C-23B+ Sherpa standard by Bombardier's West Virginia Air Center in Bridgeport, WV., for the US Army National Guard. Allotted the serial 93-01324, and new c/n SH.3408, it served latterly with the Texas NG, before being withdrawn from service in 2013 and acquired by the USFS in 2014.