By Dan Catchpole
(Reuters) -In a warehouse on the southern edge of Calgary International Airport, De Havilland Canada is developing the DHC 515, a rugged flying boat and the only airplane solely designed to scoop water from a lake, river or ocean and drop it on a wildfire.
Growing wildfires have given new life to this amphibious airplane, whose lineage goes back to the late 1960s. Canadair built the first version, the CL-215. The CL-415 followed in the early 1990s. Both remain mainstays in wildfire fleets around the world.
The DHC 515 has significant upgrades to the old model’s avionics, water-drop control system, rudder control system and air conditioning, De Havilland Canada Vice President Neil Sweeney said.
The first flight is slated for 2027, followed by the first delivery to the Greek government in 2028.
“It’s a pilot’s airplane,” said Scott Blue, who flies a CL-415 with Bozeman, Montana-based Bridger Aerospace. “I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t enjoy flying it.”
The highly maneuverable plane’s powerful Pratt & Whitney engines can quickly get it out of trouble over a fire, he said.
At the same time, it can fly low and slow to get accurate water drops, he said.
Before a run, the plane skims across the water with two probes a few inches wide deployed below the hull. It only takes eight to 12 seconds to fill the plane’s tanks with 1,400 gallons of water, which weighs 12,000 pounds (5,443 kg).
The probes then retract, and the plane climbs and heads to the fire. After dropping the water, it rushes back for more water, he said.
“If you’re fighting a forest fire right beside a lake, you can get a load of water every two to three minutes,” Blue said. “It’s common for us to do 40, 50 drops in a four-hour fuel cycle. I know some crews have done as many as 70 or 80 in a four-hour fuel cycle.”
Waterbombers typically drop water directly on or immediately next to a fire to help firefighters on the ground. Retardant is usually dropped by other aircraft to block a fire’s path.
Ultimately, ground crews contain wildfires, with help from the aircraft, Blue said.
More than 225 CL-215s and CL-415s were built before production was ended in 2015 by Bombardier, which acquired Canadair in the 1980s. In 2016, the program was sold to Viking Air, which later became part of De Havilland Canada.
The planemaker estimates global demand for 250 to 350 aircraft.
“So, Europe came to us and said that they need an increase in their fleet and they need to renew their fleet,” Sweeney said.
De Havilland Canada has 31 orders for the DHC 515. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Italy and France ordered 22 aircraft. The province of Manitoba ordered three aircraft and Ontario has ordered six. De Havilland Canada has received inquiries from other countries, too.
“So, we anticipate that this will be a very full order book in very short order,” he said.
(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by David Gregorio)
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