DEFENSE - Abdonline

Photo Courtesy Bombardier
have been upgraded with a turbine
engine in place of the original piston
powerplant, along with three Bombardier
415s. Greece operates thirteen CL-215s
and eight 415s. Croatia currently has five
415s, although according to Christian
Bergeron, Director of Sales for
Specialized and Amphibious Aircraft for
Europe and Africa at Bombardier
Aerospace, the country soon will be
taking delivery of a sixth example.
In terms of the Canadair CL-215's
history, Bergeron says, "The aircraft was
certified in 1969, and the deliveries
started in the early 1970s. In the late
1980s, Canadair produced a second
version of the aircraft called the 215T," in
which the powerplants were replaced
with new turbine engines
Bergeron continues, "In 1994, we
certified a third version of the 215, which
was an enhanced version of the 215T, this
was designated as the Bombardier 415.
The 415 has a new cockpit, new avionics,
and a new water system with more
capacity, while also retaining the same
engine that was found on the 215T. In
2004, we delivered our first 415MP
Southern Europe benefits from cooperation between
the air forces and civil agencies operating the
Canadair CL-215 and the Bombardier 415 firefighting
aircraft. In this picture, Spanish aircraft (in
blue and white) can be seen flying in formation with
French Securité Civile water bombers.
The successor to the highly successful Canadair CL-
215 has been Bombardier's 415 design. This aircraft
has been procured by the air forces of Croatia and
Greece, among other aerial fire-fighting platforms.
Canadair's CL-215 and Bombardier's 415 series of
fire-fighting aircraft have sold well around the world,
saving countless lives and acres of woodland from
devastating forest fires.
multipurpose aircraft, which is in
operation in Greece and Malaysia."
One of the reasons why Europe's air
forces operate a mix of 215 and 415
aircraft is because it is relatively easy for
experienced 215 crews to fly both aircraft
types. According to Luc Lanuoue,
Director of Customer Support and
Engineering for Specialized and
Amphibious Aircraft at Bombardier, "For
an experienced 215 pilot, there's
conversion training that will last,
depending on the individual, between 50
to 100 flight hours, after which you will
be competent flying a 415. This aircraft
has more power, but basically the
airframes are the same."
As Bergeron points out, "Several
countries that are operating two aircraft
have the same pilots essentially being
able to fly both. Once they are certified
on the 415, it is quite easy to go back
and interoperate those variants."
One feature of these aircraft strongly
appreciated by air force operators is their
robust construction. "The aircraft has
been designed for the particular mission
of firefighting," notes Lanuoue. "The
FIREFIGHTING AIRCRAFT
airframe is designed to withstand from -
1G to, in certain conditions, 3.25Gs,
which is an outstanding design
compared to existing commercial
airframes."
Bergeron further explains: "The wing
design is such that this aircraft has quite
exceptional slow-speed characteristics. It
is very stable, and that is particularly
useful for firefighting, as you need to get
fairly close to the fire and have precision
in your drop of water. That really caters
for the effectiveness in fighting the fire -
not simply flying over it and dropping
water."
According to Bergeron, it is not only
maneuvering over fires that presents
challenges. "The aircraft will go and get
filled up simply by scooping from the
surface of a body of water. That is a
demanding exercise, and essentially the
aircraft will do this on average about five
times an hour. We have seen cases where
it can do up to ten and even eleven
scoopings per hour when the water is
very close to the fire. You can compare
this to normal airliner operations, where
these aircraft will take off and land an
WWW.ABDONLINE.COM AVIATION AFTERMARKET DEFENSE | SPRING 2010
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Photo Courtesy Spanish Air Force Photo Courtesy Spanish Air Force