BAE146 IN FIRE FIGHTING ROLE

One of the most popular passenger aircraft, the BAe 146/Avro RJ is finding a new role as a wildfire fighter in North America, with 22 in service or under conversion for the role. The 2016 wildfire season saw 14 inservice BAE Systems Regional Aircraft-built BAe 146-200s and Avro RJ85s of Neptune Aviation and Conair/Aero-Flite flying well over 5,800 tanker missions. They dropped more than 12.5m gallons of retardant to help control some of the 67,595 recorded wildfires in the US and well over 5,000 in Canada. Another eight of the aircraft are under conversion. For this year’s coming fire season, 11 out of the19 of the large air tankers of 3,000 gallon capacity, contracted by the US Forest Service, are BAe 146-200/ Avro RJ85s, underlining the vital role now played by the aircraft. BAE Systems Regional Aircraft plays an active role in supporting both Neptune Aviation and Conair as well as Air Spray, whose first BAe 146 air tanker is scheduled to fly this year. Wildfire suppression costs across all agencies in the US in 2016 were nearly $2 billion, underlining the importance of the aircraft. Fire fighting

now accounts for a record 52 per cent of the Forest Service Budget as compared to just 16 per cent in 1995.