Bombardier is fighting to keep funding for two CL-415 waterbombers in California's state budget. The Canadian company believes there is strong support for the move to bolster wildfire-prone California's firefighting capability, "-but we are not assured of success", says Amphibious Aircraft division president Tom Appleton.
Los Angeles County already wet-leases two of the waterbombers from Quebec for two months a year under a cross-seasonal arrangement, but the aircraft must be returned when needed by the Canadian province.
Scooping water from 13 sites in the county, the CL-415s complement existing fire-retardant aerial tankers by allowing quick-turnaround direct attacks on the flame front, says Appleton.
Bombardier has also submitted a proposal to the US Forestry Service to supply 10 CL-415s, but Appleton admits that the federal government agency has no budget for the aircraft. Despite this, he is optimistic of progress because property damage caused by wildfires is increasing in the USA as people move out of cities into the surrounding countryside.
"The time is now - governments are the only ones that can afford to buy new aircraft," he says.
The Canadian company has sold 38 CL-415s so far, and delivered 34. Four remain to be delivered to Ontario, which is trading its fleet of older, piston-powered, CL-215s back to Bombardier as it re-equips with nine turboprop CL-415s.
Appleton says a proposal has been made to transfer the Ontario CL-215s to Indonesia in time to prevent a repeat of the fires that blanketed South-East Asia in smoke in 1997, but the economic crisis has thrown this plan into doubt.
Source: Flight International
