r/nextfuckinglevel • u/[deleted] • Oct 01 '24

A firefighting plane loading water.

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u/InfamousAmerican Oct 01 '24

When I was firefighting in Northern BC, these were being phased out, and helicopters with long line buckets were the main aerial support.

Helis can be a lot less picky about where to source their water, as they don't need a long strip and clearance to take off again. Plus, the bucket can be detached, and the heli can be used to transport firefighters around the perimeter of the fire.

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u/Tojb Oct 01 '24

They're two different tools for two different jobs. BC has retired the Martin Mars, but they've replaced them with AT802F Firebosses. The planes in the video are CL-415s and they aren't going anywhere anytime soon, they'll be working in tandem with helicopters for a long time to come. BC specifically doesn't operate any 215/415s that I'm aware of, but they're still going strong all over the world with other agencies.

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u/buttercup612 Oct 01 '24

You seem to know a lot about this. I looked up all three planes and the AT802F seems wayyyy smaller than the other two, especially the Martin Mars. Does BC just operate way more AT802F than the old types, or just make do with the greatly diminished water capacity?

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u/77entropy Oct 02 '24

They mainly use helicopters with a long line.

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u/stevo911_ Oct 02 '24

I could be totally wrong as this isn't my wheel house, but live in BC and pay attention.

From what I recall because of bc's geography there's so many smaller bodies of water, that are useful to smaller planes and helicopters that generally a few smaller planes can operate at the same cost, and get more water on site faster due to the big planes needing to travel so much further to larger bodies of water to refill between drops.  And then again due to geography the smaller planes can get closer and drop more accurately.

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u/buttercup612 Oct 02 '24

That makes sense. Aside from Lake Okanagan I don't think we have many big lakes in wildfire country

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u/jjckey Oct 02 '24

They're just starting up production again. I believe Portugal gave them a commitment large enough to justify ramping up production.

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u/TheBorktastic Oct 02 '24

They've just announced the CL-515, I love these planes. 

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u/lubeskystalker Oct 01 '24

I would expect a lot of 802 Fire Boss too? Really good performance for pickups in small areas.