Air tanker crash in Italy kills two

Near Linguaglossa, Sicily

A CL-215/415 air tanker crash Italy
A CL-215/415 banks sharply just before contacting the ground. October 27, 2022.

A Canadair CL-215/415 crashed while dropping water on a wildfire on the slopes of the volcano Etna near Linguaglossa, Sicily, Italy today. Both pilots were killed.

It had just released its load, banked sharply to the right, then crashed into the ground.

The registration number of the aircraft was I-DPCN. It was part of a fleet of 19 CL-415s owned by the Dipartimento dei Vigili del Fuoco, del Soccorso Pubblico e della Difesa Civile (Department of firefighters, public rescue and civil defense) but operated by Babcock, the company that  provides the Canadair service in Italy as part of an outsourcing contract.

We send out our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of the two pilots.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Mickey.

Eight water-scooping air tankers spotted at Santa Fe Airport

Eight scooping air tankers at Santa Fe airport
Eight water-scooping air tankers at Santa Fe airport, May 6, 2022, operated by Bridger Aerospace and Aero-Flite. The Calf Canyon and Hermit Peak Fires were nearby. Photo by Jerry Messinger.

Jerry Messinger got this photo showing eight water-scooping air tankers at the Santa Fe Airport in New Mexico on May 6, 2022. It is very rare in the United States to see eight scoopers in one place. Mr. Messinger said the tanker numbers represented are: 281, 282, 283, 284, 260, 261, 262, and 263.

On April 25 Wildfire Today reported that four water-scooping air tankers were obtaining water from Lake Isabel and dropping it on the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fires east of Santa Fe. The lake is 8 miles east of the fire, which would be less than a 5 minute one-way trip carrying up to 1,600 gallons of water. A CL-415 can cruise at 233 mph. Apparently four more scoopers were ordered.

The aircraft are operated by Bridger Aerospace and Aero-Flite.

The photo reminded me of one taken in Europe in 2017.

And this one from 2015:

Air Tankers at Dryden
Firefighting aircraft at Dryden Regional Airport in Ontario, Canada, in June, 2015 before they were dispersed to deal with the rising number of wildfires.

Bridger Aerospace uses Twin Otter to train air tanker pilots

Then they can graduate to the new CL-415EAF

Bridger Twin Otter, by Jarrod Wilkening
Twin Otter used by Bridger Aerospace. Photo by Jarrod Wilkening.

Bridger Aerospace is using a DeHavilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, N532CV, to train pilots to fly their new CL-415EAF water-dropping amphibious air tankers. The Twin Otter itself is not tanked, but K. Mita of Bridger said, “Essentially the Otter and [CL-415EAF] fly similar enough that it’s a great platform for new amphib pilots to train on. Once they graduate Otter school, they get to hop in the right seat of the CL.”

The CL-415EAF amphibious air tanker can skim across a body of water to refill the 1,400-gallon tank then drop it on a fire.

The scooper team will be training near Conroe, Texas from the end of January through March.

Tanker 281 Cedar Fire Nevada
Air Tanker 281, a CL-415EAF, completed over 60 water drops in support of firefighters at the Cedar Fire south of Elko Nevada on its first ever mission. Photo July 21, 2020 by K Mita, Bridger Aerospace.

The first CL-415EAF was delivered to Bridger Aerospace’s facility in Bozeman, Montana in April, 2020 as part of a contract that with all options exercised is valued at $204 million covering the purchase of six of the amphibious scooping air tankers.

The first use of one on a wildfire was Tanker 281 on the 6,000-acre Cedar Fire 15 miles south of Elko, Nevada where it completed over 60 water drops in support of firefighters.

The CL-415EAF modification program consists of converting CL-215 airframes to turbines using Viking-supplied conversion kits and replacing all obsolete components. It features a new Collins Pro Line Fusion integrated digital avionics suite, Pratt & Whitney PW123AF turbine engines, and increased water tank capacity with a higher delivery two-door water drop system. The conversion work is done in Canada by Longview Aviation Services in collaboration with Cascade Aerospace.

Bridger Aerospace’s Pilatus PC-12 will be coming online soon with a new paint scheme. It will be going into service as an air attack platform.

“We are pushing hard to demonstrate that the single-engine airframe is reliable and also quite comfortable,” Mr. Mita said. “So far, the response has been positive.”

Super Scoopers migrate to Southern California for the 28th time

To be available during the Santa Ana wind season

Two Super Scoopers arrive in LA County
Two Super Scoopers arrive in LA County

The migration of the Super Scooper air tankers occurred for the 28th time when two CL-415s arrived this week at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles County.

The aircraft owned by the Province of Quebec are brought in for the Santa Ana east wind season that typically begins in the fall. Strong, dry, hot winds can lead to large, disastrous fires in densely populated areas of southern California.

The scoopers can load up to 1,600 gallons of water while skimming across the surface of a lake. If the water source is within ten miles, typically working in pairs they can drop a great deal of water on a fire.

Initial deployment typically lasts for approximately 90 days, but may be extended if a need for their assistance continues.

This year in a program paid for by Southern California Edison three counties will each have an additional large helicopter. Los Angeles and Orange Counties will have 3,000-gallon Boeing CH-47D Chinooks, and Ventura County will get a 1,000-gallon S-61. The program has been given a catchy name, Quick Reaction Force.

US Forest Service awards CWN water scooper contracts

Tanker 281 Cedar Fire Nevada
Air Tanker 281, a CL-415EAF, completed over 60 water drops in support of firefighters at the Cedar Fire south of Elko Nevada on its first ever mission. Photo July 21, 2020 by K Mita, Bridger Aerospace.

Today the U.S. Forest Service announced contract awards for Call When Needed water-scooping air tankers. They went to three companies, Aero Flite Inc., Air Spray USA Inc., and Bridger Air Tanker LLC.

The estimated value of each of the contracts is about $25 million to $29 million.

Crews train and recertify in the CL-415EAF for the 2021 fire season

Bridger Aerospace CL-415
Bridger Aerospace CL-415EAF, from Business Insider video

In January, Business Insider spent three days with Bridger Aerospace in Mesa, Arizona, where a class of pilots and technicians trained and recertified for the 2021 fire season in the company’s signature firefighting aircraft, the CL-415EAF known as the Super Scooper.

The crews flew the $30 million amphibious air tanker as it scooped up and then dropped up to 1,400 gallons of water.

Q400 air tanker hauls COVID-19 medical supplies

Q400 air tanker multi-role France
Caption from Instagram: “Yesterday carrying #medicalteam with lot of material between Bordeaux, Nancy and Strasbourg- Participating in the national effort against #Covid-19 – For the crew: Two #pilots and two #cabincrew it mean follow precise procedures and be very vigilant…in other words: Stay #professionnal – We want also to mention Our deepest respect and gratitude to the #caregivers #medecins #infirmiers #aidesoignants 🙏🙏🙏 #securitecivile #waterbomber”

The Instagram account for France’s Sécurité Civile recently posted these photos. Above, a Q400 multi-role air tanker is being loaded with personnel and medical supplies for a COVID-19 mission.

Below, a Q400 is seen with two scooping air tankers, CL-415s.

Q400 air tanker multi-role France
Caption from Instagram: “Milan76 ready for…training today!”

A proposal for countries to share air tankers resurfaces

Water scooping air tankers would travel between hemispheres on a repurposed or custom designed ship

Canadian Australian Strategic Firefighting Initiative vessel
An artist’s rendering of the proposed Canadian Australian Strategic Firefighting Initiative vessel. (Davie Shipyard)

A concept for sharing firefighting air tankers between the northern and southern hemispheres proposed in 2016 has resurfaced. The wildfire seasons in opposite times of the year could provide windows for the same aircraft to travel back and forth annually between North America and Australia or South America.

In 2016 Quebec-based Davie Shipyard suggested that the water scooping air tankers in Canada could be transported on a custom designed or converted ship and delivered to Australia at the end of the northern hemisphere fire season. Then the aircraft could be shipped back north before the Canadian fire season began.

For decades Canada has had success with CL-215/415 water-scooping air tankers first made by Bombardier. British Columbia based Viking Air Ltd presently owns the rights to Bombardier’s CL-415 air tanker. The company is now taking orders and deposits for its new-production CL-515 “First Responder” air tanker.

Below are excerpts from a January 14 article at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

“I think when we initially proposed the idea, it was too soon,” said Spencer Fraser, chief executive officer of Federal Fleet Service, the Davie Shipyard’s sister company. “There were still people within Canada and society that were denying extreme weather events and climate change. What’s important today is — look, it’s real. So let’s do something about it.”

No one from the Liberal government was willing to comment Monday — but there was word last week that officials in two federal departments had dusted off the proposal and had asked questions of Viking Air Ltd., the B.C. company which now owns the rights to Bombardier’s CL-415 water bomber.

Greg Mullins, the former fire commissioner of the state of New South Wales, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Jan. 3 that the country should tap into Canadian expertise and assets.

“Our prime minister should be on the phone with Justin Trudeau from Canada, right now, saying, ‘Justin, we need 20 or more of your water-scooping, purpose-built water bombers that are in mothballs during your winter,'” he said.

Fraser said the companies originally involved in the pitch in 2016 studied the logistics of flying water bombers between Canada and Australia and concluded it would be complicated, even perilous, to refuel the aircraft along the way in less-than-friendly nations.

In November, 2019 a group of 23 former fire and emergency services leaders and other former fire chiefs said they were concerned that with longer fire seasons now being experienced the current air tanker fleet in Australia is not adequate for keeping up with the increasing bushfire activity.

The acquisition and contracting of large air tankers in Australia is coordinated by the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC). They recently purchased a Boeing 737 air tanker, but like the federal government in the United States, the country depends on contractors to supply most of their large air tankers.

NAFC had planned on having five large air tankers available during the 2019/2020 bushfire season (including the government-owned 737), but as wildfire activity grew exponentially the agency kept adding more. By the end of next week they will have 10 large air tankers on contract plus the government-owned 737.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom. Typos or errors, report them HERE.