BAE Systems is willing to help develop a fire-fighting variant of its BAe 146 regional airliner and says it has received expressions of interest in such a conversion.
Steve Doughty, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft vice-president sales and marketing, says firefighting aircraft operators in the USA first expressed interest six months ago in using the aircraft as a water bomber. "The right aircraft from our point of view is the 146-100," he says. "It has a short fuselage, but it is not volume but weight that limits your cargo."
The BAe 146 has a high wing and can be modified for rough field operations, and Doughty says its four engines give it extra reliability in low-level flying.
But the project is still in its early stages. "We understand freighter conversion, but to convert the aircraft to a water bomber is not so well understood," says Doughty. "It is not a normal operation - certification is an uncertain process."
Doughty cites the 2002 US grounding of older water-bombing aircraft such as the Lockheed C-130A as an opportunity. BAE's role would be limited to providing data. "Water-bomber conversion is a specialist operation, best carried out by operators," he adds.
Source: Flight International
