MNR eyeing new waterbomber

There’s a new boss in town and he means business.
It’s big, it’s fast, and it could mean the difference between a small forest fire dying a quick death—or growing into a monster.
That’s why Jamie Sargent, president and CEO of The Firebirds, watched with such interest when test pilot Mark Mathisen took off in the “Fire Boss” from the Fort Frances Airport on Tuesday morning for a demonstration of the latest innovation in fighting forest fires.
Sargent’s Thunder Bay-based company works for Wipaire Inc.—the aircraft’s manufacturer—and based on his impressions of the Fire Boss, he will recommend the Ministry of Natural Resources purchase some.
“It’s a tremendous aircraft,” said Sargent. “It’s already recognized around the world as a fire-fighting aircraft and this version should be ideal here in Canada.”
This version of the Air Tractor AT-802 crop duster-water bomber—designed and built by Leland Snow of Olney, Tex.—has been mated with a pair of Wipline 13000 floats and a Pratt and Whitney turboprop engine to produce what its manufacturer, Wipaire Inc. of Inver Grove Heights, Mn., calls “the ultimate aerial suppression tool.”
And yesterday, the Fire Boss showed what it could do.
Mathisen made four passes over the airport in less than 30 minutes and in each case, dropped his load precisely where he wanted it. With quick access to Rainy Lake, reloading was accomplished in seconds.
“He can scoop up over 800 [U.S.} gallons in 15 seconds and be ready for another run,” said Sargent.
Sargent said the Fire Boss has several unique features that make it an attractive addition to the MNR’s fleet of waterbombers.
“It costs one-10th as much to purchase as a CL-415 and only a quarter as much to operate,” he noted. “It carries about half the load as the ’415, but it can also be quickly loaded on land.”
The CL-415 and its predecessor, the CL-215, currently are the backbone of the Canada’s fire-suppression fleet. Along with some modified Twin Otters and a few helicopters, they have been helping beat back wild fires for decades.
Now, the Fire Boss almost is ready to join their ranks.
“We’re hoping to have it registered in Canada by June,” said Sargent. “It’s ideal for working in the Canadian Shield because of all the lakes and rivers.”
The Fire Boss began as a land-based crop duster and fire-suppression aircraft, but its size and power made it a prime candidate for extensive modification.
Even without floats, it is one of the largest and heaviest single-engine aircraft in the world. Now it weighs in at a whopping 16,000 pounds and can carry up to 6,500 pounds (3,100 litres) of water and chemical suppressant in separate tanks.
A sophisticated computer system allows the pilot to select the rate and pattern of his drop without taking his hands off the controls. He simply dials in the amount of coverage he wants and the computer calculates the rate of release based on the aircraft’s ground speed.
The system permits the pilot to precisely select a coverage of from .5 gallons per 100 square feet to four gallons. In a full-salvo drop, the coverage can exceed six gallons.
Also, the pilot can select multiple drops to hit multiple targets in a single pass.
The computer even controls the amount of water the aircraft scoops up before shutting off the intake, and makes constant adjustments for fuel burn-off so the aircraft always comes in with the maximum possible load.
To get all that weight off the ground, the Fire Boss is powered by a Pratt and Whitney PT6A-67 turboprop engine which delivers 1,350 h.p. through a five-bladed propellor.
The Fire Boss is, says Sargent, a three-part project—and one third is Canadian.
“The original airframe is from Texas, the floats and plumbing are made in Minnesota, and the engine is made in Canada,” he noted.
The Fire Boss also provides some safety features not found in other aircraft.
Unlike some other waterbombers, the water in the Fire Boss is not stored in the floats or floating hull, but instead is forced up by water pressure into an internal tank in the fuselage.
In the event the pilot must dump his load in order to take off quickly, he can do so with the flip of a switch. In other configurations, the aircraft must first get off the water in order to do that.
With a dry winter behind us and a dry spring now upon us, the fire hazard in this area already has crept up to “extreme.” To counter that, officials here and elsewhere are contemplating controlled burns to eliminate flammable material in order to prevent uncontrolled fires later.
In order to do that safely, precise control is required and Sargent says the Fire Boss provides just that.
“It can prepare a fire break before the burn begins and then stand by to knock down anything that jumps the barrier,” he remarked.
In addition to fire suppression, the Fire Boss always can fall back on its ancestral role as a pesticide dispenser to attack gypsy moths, spruce budworm, and the mosquitoes that spread West Nile virus.
“We see it initially as a supplement to the current fleet across Canada and some day it may replace them all,” said Sargent.
The Fire Boss is expected to retail in Canada for about $3 million.
(Fort Frances Times)