This video was posted on Facebook yesterday by Gastón Tomcat who wrote:
Hi from Dominican Republic, this was today in Santo Domingo. Independence Day.
Author: Bill Gabbert
Conair to convert more RJ85s and improve the Q400 air tankers
Above: a Q400 drops retardant. The image is from the Conair video below.
The Conair Group is currently converting at least one additional RJ85 airliner into an air tanker at their facility in Abbotsford, British Columbia and also plans to make enhancements to the Q400. The company already operates approximately four RJ85s, and two Q400s have been used in France for over 10 years.
The Q400 can carry up to 2,642 US gallons and can be reconfigured into a cargo role in a few hours.
Below is an excerpt from an article at TMTV:
Conair Group Inc. is currently producing its fifth and sixth next-generation RJ85 air-tanker, supplementing the five it currently has in operation in the U.S. and Australia.
The next-generation RJ85 will supplement B.C.’s current fleet of air-tankers on a pilot basis this summer. The addition of the aircraft ahead of the 2016 wildfire season will allow the BC Wildfire Service to evaluate its cost and effectiveness and help inform future procurement decisions.
Conair Group Inc. has also signed a memorandum of understanding with CAE to build a Level D simulator training program for RJ85 pilots in B.C. Companies like Conair Group Inc. currently have to send pilots to Zurich, Switzerland to receive similar training, and this facility will reduce costs and increase access to more world-class, mission-based rehearsal scenarios.
In addition to the various initiatives with the RJ85, Conair Group Inc. has started to make enhancements to the Bombardier Q400 cargo combination aircraft. Two Q400s have been built for the Government of France and the planned conversions will increase the aircraft’s versatility for the global market.
Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations –
“Wildfire management will always rely on a fleet of dependable aircraft to assist the men and women on the ground who extinguish the fires. The pilot program with Conair will provide us meaningful information as we look ahead to future procurement decisions.”
The video below shows water and retardant drops by the RJ85 and the Q400.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to JM.
New lead plane?
A comment by Bill Blake after we posted this photo on the Wildfire Today Facebook page gave us an idea… about starting a rumor that the Department of the Interior has received ten F-15E surplus fighter jets from the Air Force and will be using them as lead planes in 2016. In return, the Air Force got the 182 DoI drones.
The photo was taken by Colin Moeser as Neptune’s Tanker 02 was paralleling an F15E Strike Eagle landing in Boise in 2015.
Advances in drone technology, swarming and following
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Drone/UAV/UAS2 Comments on Advances in drone technology, swarming and followingTechnology for controlling drones has advanced farther than I knew. This first video shows how the aircraft can, if not communicate with each other, at least are aware of the locations of the other drones and can fly or swarm in a predetermined formation.
I had heard of a drone that could follow a moving person or object, as seen in the video below, and there may be others already on the market. This one, the Lily Camera, is expected to be available later this fall for around $900.
It would be fascinating to see footage shot by the Lily Camera as it followed an engine crew making a mobile attack on a fire, 
igniters using drip torches, a Hotshot crew constructing fireline, smokejumpers hiking out of a fire with their gear, or a faller cutting down a nasty snag. Videos like this could be very useful for training new firefighters.
It flies between 5 and 50 feet above a person’s head, from 5 to 100 feet away horizontally, and at up to 25 mph. Of course integrating a drone like this into a wildfire environment, even if it remains below 50 feet AGL, would meet with some resistance.
****
And, another story about an unusual aviation issue:
Nigerian astronaut lost in space needs $3,000,000 to get home
It might be a scam 😉
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim.
Air tankers in Victoria
Above: Conair’s Tanker 162, an RJ85 at Avalon Airport, Victoria, Australia.
The Country Fire Authority currently has one very large and three large air tankers on contract during their summer bushfire season working out of Avalon Airport near Melbourne, Australia (map). The down under fire season will likely be winding down soon and the aircraft will migrate back to North America.
In recent weeks the air tankers were deployed across the Bass Strait to Tasmania. This may have been the first time large aerial firefighting assets were used in the state. The Fire Service felt it was necessary to warn the residents to “not be alarmed” when they saw the air tankers “flying a bit low over the coast”.
Photos provided by the Country Fire Authority, Victoria.
Tanker 260 and Tanker 06 assisting firefighters in Oklahoma
Air Tanker 260 has been assisting firefighters in Oklahoma for the last several days. It was also used in Oklahoma in 2014.
The CL-415 is operated by Aero-Flite under a U.S. Forest Service contract.
These photos taken at Ardmore, OK were provided by Oklahoma Forestry Services.
Tanker 06, one of Neptune’s P2Vs, is also en route to Oklahoma. We’re pretty sure the photo below is a file photo, and was not taken in Oklahoma. 😉
T-06 is headed to Oklahoma as fire season gets started for Neptune Aviation. Hats off to the dedicated Neptune maintenance team who ensures Neptune is ready for action. None better! Photo courtesy of Al Golub
Posted by Neptune Aviation Services Inc on Sunday, February 21, 2016
Rarely seen together
Neptune Aviation posted this photo on their Facebook page of two aircraft that are rarely captured in the same photo, a BAe-146 air tanker and an F-15E. They wrote:
Colin Moeser captured this jaw dropping shot of Neptune’s T-02 paralleling an F15E Strike Eagle from Mountain Home AFB landing in Boise in 2015. The story behind the story is that Neptune’s T-02 Captain Terry Cullen is the proud father of Ryan, a crew chief on an F15. Good genes run in the family!
That’s one way to get to a fire
Photo credit, Great Basin Smokejumpers