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A Canadair, an indispensable firefighting aircraft
The Canadair CL 415 is a twin-engine water bomber aircraft. It is an indispensable ally in the fight against vegetation fires, which often occur during the summer months. The Canadair operational base is located at Nîmes airport, and two other aircraft are based in Corsica.
But they can also be deployed to other regions, and even abroad if the need arises. In the event of a fire alert, a Canadair must bail out on a stretch of water, and repeat the maneuver until the fire is contained.
An easy-to-understand procedure for boaters
Before bailing out, the crew of a Canadair follows a procedure to ensure that all safety conditions are met. Ideally, the maneuver should take place upwind and parallel to the swell. The pilot will first perform a 360° medium-altitude turn to get a peripheral view of the water and ensure that it meets all bailing criteria.
The crew will then make a low pass on the scooping axis to signal their intentions to the other competitors on the water. This low pass is made at an altitude of between 30 and 50 m. The yachtsman must then understand that he must move away from this axis at a distance of at least 500 meters.
After this second reconnaissance, the Canadair was again on the same axis to scoop the water. This will be carried out over a distance of around 400 m, hydroplaning the surface of the water while continuing to fly.
Watch out, it's going very fast! A Canadair scooping water at nearly 80 knots! It takes on almost six tonnes of water in ten seconds through small scoops on the aircraft's belly.
You need to stay away from the scooping axis for almost an hour after the first Canadair pass. Treating a fire requires several bombardments, and the Canadairs will have to make several passes.
Hundreds of listed water bodies
Canadairs are scooped from a wide variety of areas: sea, rivers, lakes and even commercial ports, to protect them from the swell. Crews train winter and summer alike to maintain a high level of skill, and to memorize the specific characteristics of each stretch of water.
An ideal scooping axis requires an available length of 2,000 meters, a width of 100 meters and a minimum depth of 2 meters.
Common sense for everyone's safety
Apart from the risk of prosecution if you interfere with a Canadair maneuver, it's common sense to let the crews get on with their work, and to keep out of their way. Pilots are sometimes confronted with highly motorized craft, such as jet skis or offshore craft, which race the Canadair in the middle of a maneuver. It goes without saying that this type of behavior must be avoided for the safety of all concerned.
What's more, Canadair operations are set to intensify in the coming years, and not just on the Mediterranean coast. As vegetation changes, the fire boundary moves northwards every year, and it's not unusual for Canadairs to intervene in Brittany or central France.
