Jeremy Chernoff was kind enough to send us these photos he took at Castlegar, BC, Canada. Thanks Jeremy.
Air tankers at Castlegar, BC
Tag: Canada
Fighting fire from the air in Alberta
The excerpt below if from an article about the aerial fighting resources in the Canadian province of Alberta, published by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.
…It goes without saying that flying close to wildfires can be dangerous – which is why safety always takes priority, and teamwork is important. Each airtanker group is led by an air attack officer (or ‘AAO’ for short), flying in the lead plane (called a “birddog”). The AAO acts as the ‘eye in the sky’ for the group and firefighters on the ground. Usually first on the scene, they will assess the wildfire, come up with a plan of attack, and then lead the airtankers in the team to the target.
To help ensure our airtankers can get to where they’re needed as quickly as possible, we have 14 support bases in strategic locations around the province. We have nine airtanker groups, each of which can move to any base – making it easy for our planes to refuel, reload and be ready for the next wildfire…
Newfoundland-Labrador orders two CL-415 air tankers
Bombardier Aerospace announced today that it has signed a firm purchase agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for two Bombardier CL-415 amphibious air tankers. The transaction is valued at approximately $73.7 million US, based on list price, and includes various product enhancements. Deliveries of the aircraft will begin during the second quarter of 2014 and will continue in 2015.
With the two new aircraft, the province will have four CL-415s and one CL 215.
Canada is home to nearly 60 CL-215s and 415s – the largest national fleet of its kind in the world. There are 165 of the aircraft in service worldwide.
Scooper drops on a truck fire
When an 18-wheeler crashed into a road grader and caught fire in northern Canada on July 29, an air tanker was called in to help prevent the fire from spreading farther into the vegetation. This video was shot on a cell phone by Shawn Noseworthy, a manager with Humber Valley Paving, who was part of a work crew on site when the crash occurred about 30 miles from Churchill Falls, a town of 650 residents.
Here are a couple of screen grabs — the video is below.
According to the Daily Mail:
The Royal Newfoundland and Labrador Constabulary says the driver of the tractor-trailer rig slammed head-on into the road grater. He was trapped inside as the big rig caught fire, but the grater driver managed to pull the big rig driver to safety. He was taken to Goose Bay-Happy Valley and treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital.
I am not sure if it’s a CL-215, CL215T, or CL-415. I can’t see any winglets at the end of the wings, but I think there are some ‘finlets‘ – two vertical stabilizers on each side of the horizontal tail surface. The presence of both would indicate either a turbo-converted CL-215 or a CL-415. In the audio, it sounds like turbine engines.
Thanks go out to Tristan.
Kamov KA-32 helicopter crashes while fighting wildfire in B.C.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Helicopters3 Comments on Kamov KA-32 helicopter crashes while fighting wildfire in B.C.
A Russian-built Kamov KA-32 helicopter made a crash landing in British Columbia Sunday, August 4. Jen Norie of VIH Aviation Group confirmed that one of their helicopters was conducting water dropping operations on a wildfire near Bella Colla, British Columbia using an external bucket when the aircraft developed an engine problem. The ship made a hard landing on uneven terrain collapsing at least one landing gear, which caused the aircraft to tip over about 30 degrees. The twin overhead counter-rotating main rotors struck the ground, which of course destroyed them.
Thankfully the two pilots walked away with no injuries, so in that sense it was a “good landing”. There were no passengers on board.
Ms. Norie said the company has been operating KA-32s since the mid-1990s, accumulating over 46,000 flight hours without a major incident, until Sunday.
The registration number on the Kamov was RA-31591.
Martin Mars and other aircraft attack fire near Powell River
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wing, Helicopters11 Comments on Martin Mars and other aircraft attack fire near Powell RiverIn this video the Martin Mars, a single engine air tanker, and several helicopters are seen making water drops on a fire near Powell River in British Columbia June 9.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the Alberni Valley Times:
A two-hectare slash fire in Powell River is now under control, and it offered a good opportunity for the Hawaii Mars to show off the important role it can play in firefighting – an essential step given that the province has announced it will not use the bomber next fire season.
Alberni Valley resources played a big part in containing the blaze. Both the Martin Mars \water bomber and Thunderbird fire unit headed out to fight the Powell River fire on Tuesday.
“It was excellent for us,” said Wayne Coulson, CEO of the Coulson group, which owns the water bomber. “We did about four loads and whacked it out with a couple of other machines, and it was a quick one.”
According to Coastal Fire Centre fire information officer Marg Drysdale, the fire was three kilometres northeast of Powell River and the resources that took care of it were three initial attack crews, two officers and half a unit crew, which were the Thunderbirds.
“And then they brought in air tankers, including the Martin Mars,” Drysdale said. “And it knocked the fire down really well.” The fire was reported at 1: 55 p.m. and the Mars bomber began its action in Powell River at 5: 05 p.m., before finishing at 6: 16 p.m. after dropping four loads.
Thanks go out to John
CL-415 encounters problem on Newfoundland lake
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wing6 Comments on CL-415 encounters problem on Newfoundland lake(Originally published at 1:12 pm MDT, July 4, 2013)
Reports are preliminary and a little vague at this point, but a CL-415 air tanker had a problem during or shortly after it was scooping water on a lake in western Newfoundland Wednesday. Both pilots are OK but were being checked out in a hospital as a precaution. The Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Transportation and Works confirmed that they were notified about the incident at about 3:30 p.m. that the aircraft had a problem while scooping water at Moosehead Lake near the town of Wabush.
The CBC reported that the Bombardier CL-415 lost power shortly after picking up the water and the pilot and co-pilot managed to turn the aircraft around and land safely on the lake. They got out and stood on the wing until they were rescued.
CTV News quotes Bruce Mullen of the Transportation Safety Board’s Atlantic region office as saying, “When the aircraft was riding along the surface of the water, picking up water, it appears that something went amiss and the aircraft had an incident and impacted the water.” He didn’t know the extent of the damage to the plane but it was still floating on the surface of the lake, he said.
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(UPDATE at 10 a.m. MDT, July 7, 2013)
From the Telegram, July 5:
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation and Works said it was working on a plan to retrieve the Bombardier 415 water bomber from Moosehead Lake. He said it is not known how long that process might take.
From Twitter:
@grahamjmarshall just posted another one. It’s visible from the TLH.
A Water Bomber still floats in Moosehead Lake near Labrador City today – 4 days after it fell in the water #CBCnl pic.twitter.com/kI8s81vBnm
— Chris Ensing (@ChrisEnsingCBC) July 7, 2013
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Thanks go out to Walt
Report released on 2010 crash of helicopter in B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada has released a report on the crash of a firefighting helicopter that occurred about 20 nautical miles northwest of Lillooet, British Columbia July 29, 2010. Two pilots were on board dropping water on the Jade fire — both of them were hospitalized with injuries. The helicopter was on contract to the B.C. Fire Service by TransWest Helicopters, based in Chilliwack.
The helicopter lost power due to a fuel flow problem. Below are some excerpts from the report:
As the helicopter slowed and started to descend past a ridgeline into the creek valley, the engine lost power. The pilot-in-command, seated in the left-hand seat, immediately turned the helicopter left to climb back over the ridgeline to get to a clearing, released the water bucket and the 130-foot long-line from the belly hook, and descended toward an open area to land. The helicopter touched down hard on uneven, sloping terrain, and pitched over the nose. When the advancing main-rotor blade contacted the ground, the airframe was in a near-vertical, nose-down attitude, which then rotated the fuselage, causing it to land on the left side. A small post-crash fire ignited. The pilot-in-command sustained a concussion and was rendered unconscious. The copilot escaped with minor injuries and dragged the pilot-in-command from the wreckage. The pilot-in-command regained consciousness a few minutes later. The helicopter was substantially damaged. The 406-megahertz emergency locator transmitter was activated, but its antenna fitting fractured; as a result, the search and rescue satellite network did not receive a signal.
[…]
Findings as to causes and contributing factors
- The engine fuel control unit was contaminated with metallic debris that likely disrupted fuel flow and caused the engine to lose power.
- The nature and slope of the terrain in the touchdown area caused the helicopter to roll over during the emergency landing.
The official report can be found on the TSB web site.
Wildfire Today reported the incident July 29, 2010.