Call for the International Walt Darran Aerial Firefighting Award 2020 Nominations
Committee calls for the International Walt Darran Aerial Firefighting Award 2020 Nominations
California wildfires: The day Paradise burned down
On 8 November 2018, a wildfire swept through northern California, becoming the deadliest fire in America for a century, ravaging the town of Paradise on its way. The Day California Burned documentary by BBC Two revisits the catastrophic day when the wildfire wiped out 95% of Paradise, leaving most of the city a charred ruin. Drawing on hundreds […]
CAL FIRE adds a new Firehawk helicopter to its firefighting fleet
The new addition to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s rotor fleet has arrived at Sacramento McClellan Airport on 12th October 2019. The new helicopter is a twin-engine craft called the Sikorsky S-70i Firehawk from United Rotorcraft, which are manufactured specifically for CAL FIRE and for firefighting purposes. It will serve statewide through the […]
Far From Spartan
Leonardo is supporting the certification of the C-27J Spartan as a water bomber.
Conair’s Q400MR force multiplier
Conair is a world leader in specialty aircraft operations, delivering a comprehensive range of purpose-engineered, aerial firefighting, multi-role aircraft and services worldwide. The Canadian company manufactures modified RJ85 and Q400MR aircraft for use in aerial firefighting and transporting people/cargo in support of emergency response operations. The most recent customer for the multirole Q400MR is France’s […]
CAL FIRE, the Next Stage
The California firefighting agency has recently been tasked to fight some of the biggest fires in its history, with its ageing aerial S-2T air tanker fleet. Alan Warnes discovers why it may have to alter its future strategy to cope with the additional workload. Last December, the world watched on as another round of wildfires […]
Coulson Aviation Leading the Way
Wayne Coulson, Chief Executive Officer of Coulson Aviation attended Aerial Firefighting Europe 2017 to deliver a presentation on his latest aircraft – the Boeing 737-300 Fireliner and to attend the exhibition. Coulson Aviation based in Vancouver, has acquired six of these airliners which it will convert into water-bombers. The conversion is being carried out at […]
Air Affairs’ Airborne ISR
Australian company, Air Affairs was making its first visit to a Tangent Link Aerial Firefighting exhibition. The Melbourne-based company operates 14 Learjets, the largest fleet in the world and a Beech 200. The Learjets primary role is Red Air, acting as an adversary for the air force, for low level strike against Navy ships and […]
Viking Air’s Future Super Scooper Plans
Having officially acquired the Bombardier CL-215/-415 business on October 1, 2016 Canadian aerospace company, Viking Air has been coy about its future plans for the water-bomber. Until the Tangent Link’s Search and Rescue (SAR) International Conference that is. Viking Air’s Christian Bergeron told the author, “We have spent time rebuilding confidence in the customer’s support functions. […]
Heli-Union Looks at Alternative Markets
Over the past two years, Toussus-Le-Noble based Heli-Union has embarked upon a strategy of diversification. As Jean-Baptiste Olry, the company’s Head of Sales and Operations told Tangent Link: “We were once focused more on the oil and gas industry, but now we want to diversify into other areas”. The unwillingness by oil and gas companies […]