Notwithstanding the appeal of autonomous (or, more likely remotely piloted) aircraft creating a pathway to significantly scale up the country's fire fighting capabilities, 1,500L is a pretty anemic payload for a water bomber. Vintage CL-215s carry a 5,400L payload, while the CL-415/515 upped that to 6,100L, and these aircraft can refill on a body of water in ~20 seconds for another go-around. The Dash 8-AT has a huge payload of 10,000L, thought it obviously requires a runway and hard stand to refill its tanks; an operational requirement the FlyOx 1 may initially share, noting, though, that it is intended to be amphibious.
Be interesting if it works….i imagine flying it at night when the rest of the fleet is down could work….and useful to attack new small fires maybe before they grow. Getting attack crews into bush country or on a mountain slope not so easy….so yes some possibilities.
Do you reckon this may be part of Fuhr's announcement on Friday?
No. I have no clue what it is, but I have been trying to think of a good joke to go with the presser.
Notwithstanding the appeal of autonomous (or, more likely remotely piloted) aircraft creating a pathway to significantly scale up the country's fire fighting capabilities, 1,500L is a pretty anemic payload for a water bomber. Vintage CL-215s carry a 5,400L payload, while the CL-415/515 upped that to 6,100L, and these aircraft can refill on a body of water in ~20 seconds for another go-around. The Dash 8-AT has a huge payload of 10,000L, thought it obviously requires a runway and hard stand to refill its tanks; an operational requirement the FlyOx 1 may initially share, noting, though, that it is intended to be amphibious.
Be interesting if it works….i imagine flying it at night when the rest of the fleet is down could work….and useful to attack new small fires maybe before they grow. Getting attack crews into bush country or on a mountain slope not so easy….so yes some possibilities.