Above: Buffalo Airways’ newly certified Tanker 416. Photo by Buffalo Airways.
Two large air tankers in Canada were recently certified and are ready for fire assignments.
Buffalo Airways has a newly certified L-188, Tanker 416. We asked Raquel Downey of Buffalo about the smoke or dust visible in the picture under and behind the aircraft. She said it was “just dust and dirt being blown back”. It must have been on a dirt or gravel runway.
We also asked Ms. Downey about the status of the P3 they purchased two years ago, but she said Joe McBryan is not answering any questions about the aircraft. We heard from a reliable source in March that it was in Florida getting some maintenance done.
And Air Spray’s Tanker 492 received the last of its FAA and Transport Canada certifications over the weekend. It rolled out of the hangar today and straight into service in Alberta, Canada. It has an updated RADS II tank and a new paint job.
Congrats to Buffalo and Air Spray.
Tanker 492 is currently up in Manning, AB probably covered in snow. We got a pretty good dump in a few places, just not Fort McMurray.
Based on the paint job it looks like they found an old Reeve Aleutian Electra to tank.
True. As far as I know, it’s N178RV. I like that they show the plane’s history. Air Spray’s all look the same – I believe T492 is a former Zantop bird and as are others, they operate former Reeve Electras as well…
what’s the deal with “Joe” being secretive about the P3?.. i know hes a showman..but com’on just answer a simple question already….