Bombardier 215 & Viking 415 – Over 30 years of the World’s Best Firefighting Aircrafts.
The best aerial firefighter is the only one that was built for the job – the heroic ’15 series. It was the first and only aircraft created specifically from Canadair to do the job and they certainly succeeded. The ’15s are tough, reliable amphibious flying-boats that can go anywhere and kill fires with aplomb.
It started life with the two of the mighty R-2800 radials – the engine of the wartime Thunderbolt and Corsair – giving it well over 4,000 horsepower. Today, turboprops give to the CL-415 series close to 5,000 horsepower, and a wealth of modern avionics adept at both detecting and suppressing forests fires.
Four water tanks installed in the main fuselage compartment have a combined capacity of 6,137l. A hose adaptor is installed on each side of the fuselage to fill the tanks while the aircraft is on the ground. The tanks are also capable of being filled in flight while skimming over the water surface via two hydraulically operated scoops, located aft of the hull step.
In a typical firefighting mission, the Bombardier Canadair 415 aircraft can remain on site for up to three continuous hours, dropping an average of nine tank loads of water on a fire, refilling from a water source 10km away.
According to one of their biggest European operators, “This is the most efficient tool for the aerial combat of forest fires, key to the organisation of firefighting in a large number of countries. The continuous improvements to meet the needs of forest firefighting have made these aircraft the aerial means most in demand over more than 30 years.”