The federal government needs to establish a national firefighting or natural disaster force, because climate change is real and things are only getting worse.
Ok-Professor-Star on
“Firefighting Air Tankers” usually refer to a type of airplane that must land to be refilled with water and that is usually based on a commercial or military design such as the DC-10, the Boeing 707 or the Hercules C-130.
Crop dusters carrying 400 to 800 galons of water and fire retardant can also be counted in this category as well as firefighting helicopters.
viccityguy2k on
Lease is kind of a funny way to put it. They contracted commercial, ready to go, crewed and equipped aircraft just like a province typically would.
How these aircraft get deployed, and which provinces will get priority over others if there is competing requests could get interesting.
Not sure if federal involvement as a middle man is what’s really needed – but time will tell! The one good thing about this is that these heavy aircraft will be locked in to Canada as opposed to other countries contracting them.
WKZ204 on
Lease? Sounds like the Feds in denial about climate change!
astral__monk on
Buy additional C-130Js for the RCAF. Put the MAFFS kit in it. Deploy as needed.
We’re already paying air force crews. They already train for low level flying and airdrop missions. Seems like an easy win.
I’m sure the crews would love to be doing something useful.
shiver-yer-timbers on
And keep them in country this year.
Let ‘Murrkah burn!
wrenchedups on
I didn’t know Canada responded to fires. I thought air tankers were a provincial / territorial responsibility.
J0Puck on
I’m all for Ottawa having a leased solution when it comes to provinces that need more horsepower. But they could’ve leased water bombers from Buffalo Airways. Bunch of CL-215s, depending on the area those aircraft can work way better than converted dash-8s.
Inthemiddle_ on
Coulson is one of the biggest aerial fire fighting outfits in Canada but some how they never seem to get many contracts in Canada. They’re usually in California or Australia
9 Comments
The federal government needs to establish a national firefighting or natural disaster force, because climate change is real and things are only getting worse.
“Firefighting Air Tankers” usually refer to a type of airplane that must land to be refilled with water and that is usually based on a commercial or military design such as the DC-10, the Boeing 707 or the Hercules C-130.
Crop dusters carrying 400 to 800 galons of water and fire retardant can also be counted in this category as well as firefighting helicopters.
Lease is kind of a funny way to put it. They contracted commercial, ready to go, crewed and equipped aircraft just like a province typically would.
How these aircraft get deployed, and which provinces will get priority over others if there is competing requests could get interesting.
Not sure if federal involvement as a middle man is what’s really needed – but time will tell! The one good thing about this is that these heavy aircraft will be locked in to Canada as opposed to other countries contracting them.
Lease? Sounds like the Feds in denial about climate change!
Buy additional C-130Js for the RCAF. Put the MAFFS kit in it. Deploy as needed.
We’re already paying air force crews. They already train for low level flying and airdrop missions. Seems like an easy win.
I’m sure the crews would love to be doing something useful.
And keep them in country this year.
Let ‘Murrkah burn!
I didn’t know Canada responded to fires. I thought air tankers were a provincial / territorial responsibility.
I’m all for Ottawa having a leased solution when it comes to provinces that need more horsepower. But they could’ve leased water bombers from Buffalo Airways. Bunch of CL-215s, depending on the area those aircraft can work way better than converted dash-8s.
Coulson is one of the biggest aerial fire fighting outfits in Canada but some how they never seem to get many contracts in Canada. They’re usually in California or Australia