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The US Forest Service (USFS) has announced that it has awarded a five year contract to Aero-Flite, Inc. of Kingman, Ariz. for a Bombardier 415 amphibious water scooping aircraft. Bombardier subsequently announced that the latest 415 purchased by a partnership led by Tenax Aerospace, LLC of Ridgeland, Miss., will be used under contract to the USFS starting in December. This purchase marks Bombardier’s 50th sale and delivery of their 415 superscooper, as well as the first to an American customer.
Tenax and Aero-Flite have partnered for the endeavour, with the 415 owned and leased out by Tenax and operated and maintained by Aero-Flite. The USFS requested bids to operate an amphibious turboprop waterbomber with a 1,600 US gallon tank capacity in early August. Bids were taken for a five year contract for a base year and four optional years. Provisional options for a second aircraft are available if both parties agree.
The Bombardier 415 superscooper aircraft is the only aircraft specifically built as an aerial firefighting airplane. It is able to land on unpaved runways, lakes, rivers and seas, enabling both rapid initial attacks to extinguish fires and sustained attacks to contain fires.
“Today, we are celebrating two milestones: the 50th Bombardier 415 aircraft assembled in North Bay, Ont. as well as the first United States Bombardier 415 aircraft sale and delivery,” said Michel Bourgeois, president, Specialized and Amphibious Aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace. “I want to congratulate the employees for this achievement and to welcome the Tenax team to the amphibious aircraft family. This is yet another testament to the true value of the expertise of our employees and of our superscooper aircraft that remains the top aerial firefighting choice around the world,” he continued.
While the 50th Bombardier 415 aircraft to roll out of North Bay, Ont. is the first to be sold to a United States customer, a total of five State and privately owned CL-215 aircraft, the predecessor to the Bombardier 415 aircraft, are currently operated in the United States.
Since the first Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft was delivered in 1994, a total of 85 Bombardier 415 and four Bombardier 415 MP aircraft have been delivered to governments and firefighting agencies around the world. In addition, 80 CL-215 and CL-215T amphibious piston aircraft remain in service worldwide.
