Do we need bigger amphibian water bombers? (1 Viewer)

Shortround6 said:

What I did with that fire was buy time to break out the 5 gal foam can/s and the foam equipment to blanket the fuel spill to greatly reduce the re-ignition danger

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The textbook example and the right solution. I testify as a former seaman and certified firefighter.
Working on tankers, we knew water was used for cooling while foam was used for actual firefighting. Unless your foam lines or generator were down. Then it was up to your creativity and common sense.

Dimlee said:

The textbook example and the right solution. I testify as a former seaman and certified firefighter.
Working on tankers, we knew water was used for cooling while foam was used for actual firefighting. Unless your foam lines or generator were down. Then it was up to your creativity and common sense.

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I've put out POL fires with straight water couple of times in controlled training environments. Not difficult indoors where you can straight-stream the ceiling and steam it down in a small/medium room, but outdoors it's much more about simply protecting exposures with curtains until you can get foam down.

Admiral Beez said:

I would not be surprised if a US manufacturer bought a license to build more DeHavilland CL-515s.

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I would - there aren't that many US aircraft manufacturers left, tooling up to build an entire aircraft is a HUGE and expensive proposition and supply chains are still busted thanks to the pandemic and the geopolitical situation between the US and the EU, China and Russia.

Boeing's not going to do it - they've got more than enough on their plate at the moment. Neither is Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman - they're too focused on military projets.

That basically leaves the business jet and turboprop/piston manufacturers. Of those, maybe only Gulfstream and Textron (which makes Beechcraft and Cessna) realistically have the size, resources and expertise needed to produce a 15-20 tonne aircraft.

Admiral Beez said:

The production rate of 4-6 aircraft a year (the CL-415 production line peaked at 5 aircraft before Bombardier sold the rights to Viking) will not meet the demand.

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Viking Air is now under the de Havilland Canada umbrella, with design on the updated CL-515 completed and final assembly moving to a new production line.

Deliveries are due to start in early 2028, but there are only 22 orders on the books for the CL-515 at present. Unless more orders materalise soon DHC would have to be brain dead to be aiming for anything other than a max production rate of 4-5 per year.

I think there also some CL-415s remaining on order, but not sure if they are intending to produce them.