Air Tractor AT-802 Fire Boss Air Tankers In Action

This video features some Conair Air Tractor AT-802 Fire Boss Amphibious Air Tankers Water Bombers in action fighting a wildfire in the Kootenay Region of British Columbia, Canada last summer. It was really an impressive sight to see these small water bomber floatplanes in action!

[@fredericklepine3324]

I was an Air Attack Officer for 14 years in northern Canada in the 80s and 90s. I directed Douglas DC-6s, CL-215s, A-26s, S-22 Tracker Firecats, PBY Cansos, Fokker F-22s, etc., using a Ted Smith Aerostar as Birddog. My air supervisor back then, RP, went on to work with Conair Aviation and is responsible for the development of these Firebosses and other air tankers. He has been the CEO of the company for decades now. Brilliant and innovative company.

[@alanpeterson2160]

Cool video of these workhorses in action. Lucky to have a usable lake so close to the fire.

[@aviationvideosgraz]

Good looking airplane, beautiful scenery, perfect video. Thumbs up!!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much!

[@alejandrajannethlaingenbac510]

A Nice Work!!congratulations at all team! excelent video! professionals Pilots! I love that! I'm Commercial Pilot! I would love to flight a Air Tractor AT- 802 Fire Boss!!!Beautiful place!!!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks for watching, I hope you get to fly an AT-802 some day!

[@Mak_Attack]

this brings back so much nostalgia. when me and my brother where kids, we would watch them fly mere feet above out house during fire season, we could see the pilots and read the numbers on the planes. good times.

[@PVDPlaneSpotting]

Awesome little workhorses!

[@TheHDAviation]

Ya, they are pretty cool indeed!

[@lachlanbeed7930]

Weve got some here in Australia currently battling our bushfires . We need more

[@TheHDAviation]

Hope they're helping, and that more help is one the way soon.

[@the10thleper]

This is the first time I have seen floats on a agricultural mule. Looks good! Nice

[@TheHDAviation]

There are quite a few of them flying around in British Columbia, they're pretty cool to see in action.

[@EdWhisenantAviation]

Really like watching these very cool little tankers in action, Great footage.

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much!

[@sapphire_moon781]

That plane looks like Firefighter Dusty Crophopper from Disney Planes Fire and Rescue!

[@AEROPLANE]

Very nice Air Tractor! Firefighters Brasilia have an Air Tractor, I think incredible. Awesome video friend! █▐▐▐█

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks! It was very cool to see these impressive turboprops in action, with lots of great flying.

[@AEROPLANE]

***** No problem friend!

[@ShipsYouShouldKnow]

Very cool footage! A big thumbs up!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks a lot!

[@joseagarcia4577]

Muy buen trabajo de los bomberos del aire.

[@TimLitfieldakaTimWhitfield]

That looks like fun !

[@Agislife1960]

The Fire Boss is 3 million ready to go and hauls 800 gallons of water, the CL 415 or super scooper is 35 million, and hauls 1600 gallons, and I don't believe that includes the fire fighting retrofit. Its not hard to figure out why people are buying the Fire Boss's. One CL 415 cannot out work five or six fire Boss's

[@Levi-qu8yl]

Greetings from America! Love this channel. We always have fires in Eastern Washington so I always see planes like this flying around. Very nice video.

[@TheHDAviation]

That's pretty cool you get to see these flying around pretty often. Hope the fires haven't been too bad down your way this year. Thanks for watching!

[@davidblakley5428]

So cool !!!! There is one working Lake Eustis in Florida right now.

[@TheHDAviation]

Nice! They're pretty cool to see in action. Bet they're fun to fly too!

[@99carnot]

Some amazing flying and very skilled pilots. Liked a lot and thanks for posting - first time I have seen this type of operation.

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much for watching! It was really interesting to see these aircraft in action, first time I've seen them scooping water myself!

[@99carnot]

Yes - I have read about it, but never seen it until your video. Quite skillful flying to scoop up the water. Have a good day!

[@airailimages]

Nice to see air tankers in Canada.

[@TheHDAviation]

It was really interesting to see these ones in action. Thanks for watching!

[@CBGSpotter]

Great to see them in action, hopefully they get the wildfires under control!

[@Contrajoe]

You ain't controlling much with that small a plane, unless you have way more of them than anyone can afford

[@TheHDAviation]

Ya, it was pretty cool to see them indeed! Thanks for watching.

[@Contrajoe]

It is cool to see, but I worry if a bunch of little planes can match what the old JRM Mars & other sea planes could do.

[@NorgesSpottingchannel]

An interesting sight! Thumbs up for the couple of shots!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks!

[@louielouiepks]

How much water can they pick up ??

[@STEVEHARLEY1956]

Great footage of these AT-802's ...Nice to see them in action....Cheers...Steve.-:)

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much Steve!

[@mylosairplanefan]

Great shots, mate! the landings on the water were very spectacular to see. Nice job! :) Liked!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks a lot Mylos!

[@arlindocarvalho256]

A hard work.

[@TheHDAviation]

Yes, definitely takes some skills and courage!

[@cpocketts]

Ahha what a brilliant aircraft! Love it. Great video

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much! I love the Fire Boss as well. Hope to see some around this summer!

[@cgcgundersen]

TheHDAviation sans the fire and destruction of course :-)

[@CSpotting]

Always great to see special planes like these on your channel! Great video, liked a lot! :)

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much!

[@FLHDplanespotting]

Awesome footages mate!! Love to see these birds in action! :D

[@dirtytreerat14]

Dusty the crophopper

[@YQBspotting]

Awesome shots! Really spectacular :)

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks a lot!

[@anthonyspaltro3643]

No idea there was a float version

[@CentralPASpotter]

Awesome as always!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks!

[@flybyplane]

Nice shots of these special aircraft. Liked a lot. :-)

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks a lot!

[@MrShobar]

Just north of the West Arm Bridge in Nelson, BC.

[@TheHDAviation]

Yup!

[@CMH-aviation]

its dusty crophopper

[@abecoulter18]

michael touse dusty was based on this exact model of the brand air tractor

[@williamjakobsenmatthiesen3145]

Yep

[@oisiaa]

This is my dream job. I need to figure out how to apply.

[@TheHDAviation]

Bet it would be an exciting job!

[@YeshuatheLord]

In Canada takes 1000 hr on floats.

[@niiloraappana]

Very good video buddy! Awesome to see this!

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks a lot!

[@Boeingspotter1]

Very cool plane! Nice footage of it. :)

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks!

[@maxibrtta1582]

Hey Nice cool vids we have some docen of this airplanes in Córdoba province and Argentina country too, and i was filmed some takeoff and landings too if u can watch. The at802 have a nice pt6 turboprop engine😂

[@bernardanderson7569]

First time here on the Channel and put me down to get hired on fly in Air Tractor single engine Turboprop

[@balsumfractus]

Where abouts in the Kootenays??

[@balsumfractus]

....never mind...I just recognized the bridge!

[@irass2452]

pzl dromader. ?

[@americanrambler4972]

Question. Just how scaleable is the use of these AT-802's in delivering payload to a fire site before a larger more expensive multi engine aircraft with a larger individual pass payload becomes more effective? It looks like these 820 gallon capacity AT-802 aircraft are more effective as water straffers vs retardant bombers. A large tanker can unload upwards of 1500 to 3,000 gallons per pass and the DC10 or 747 supertanker aircraft can deliver between 5,000 to 11,000 gallons of water or retardant per pass. It would take up to at least 13 to 15 AT-802's to match one 747 pass based just on capacity. How would the multiplier effect of the much more rapid sortie rate counter the shear mass of the single pass supertanker drop? Where does the increased number of smaller planes on site become a capacity constraint? At some point the number of aircraft moving around becomes a significant constraint. Airports use huge capacity fire trucks vs many little trucks for air crashes for a reason.

[@2011blueman]

The reality is that the larger the airplane the less effective it is at fighting fires. With fighting fires, to be effective the drop has to be concentrated enough to extinguish or at least slow the flames for the ground crew and accurate enough that it is right on the burn line. The DC10s and 747s you see on the news are used solely for political reasons (i.e. because they make for a good PR photo). They're extremely expensive to operate, largely ineffectual because of how high and fast they have to fly (water dissipates due to altitude and speed), they're inaccurate because of how high and fast they must fly, and they have to fly into major airports very far from the fire because of their size.

[@MrMultiAfrican]

Leggo My Ego how much would it cost roughly to convert a foreign license and do the air tractor type rating? This is my dream job. I would move to Canada tomorrow:)

[@2011blueman]

MrMultiAfrican, I'm in the USA so I don't know what Canada's procedures are for converting foreign licenses. In the US I think you fill out a bunch of forms, take a medical exam, and then do a check ride (but don't quote me since I've never had to do it).

[@MrMultiAfrican]

Leggo My Ego cool no worries. I'm just starting the process now. I'll be in the states by January to do my FAA ATP. but Canada might be even better :)

[@2011blueman]

Well if your dream job is to do aerial firefighting the US is probably a better option, sadly we now have wildfires year round in populated areas, in particular California.

[@aphovasse]

Where? Looks Canadian

[@TheHDAviation]

This was in Nelson, British Columbia.

[@lukaslugecic5118]

ja sam kupil na placu,čoveče

[@GlideYNRG]

4 thumbs down? Seriously....

[@melonshop8888]

SEND IT TO AUSTRALIA NOW.!!! ASAP.!!! 👍👍👍 SUFFERING ANIMALS AND TREES NEED IT.!!! 😥😥 SEND IT TO AUSTRALIA NOW.!!! ASAP.!!! 👍👍👍 SUFFERING ANIMALS AND TREES NEED IT.!!! 😥😥

[@patricioherrerao.9311]

Prefiero los CL-415

[@FLHDplanespotting]

Awesome footages mate!! Love to see these birds in action! :D

[@TheHDAviation]

Thanks very much!

[@thinredline8939]

What do you have to do to become a pilot for one of those planes