De Haviland Canada has broken ground on a new plant to produce the DHC-515 Water Bomber near Calgary, Alberta. I truly wish them luck.
De Havilland Aircraft Canada to produce DHC-515 Water Bomber
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
good news for western Canada. The country could use some more manufacturing IMO.
Just my $0.02
Just my $0.02
I wish they would sell a bunch to Cal-Fire. Those planes are awesome.
The company I’m working for now we are modifying 2 UH60’s as Fire Hawks for a company that flys them and sells them to Canada among other countries. They stated that There are negotiations with Cal-Fire and a couple others for these aircraft’s.
Didn't they try to do that back in the late 80's, and were using recips?
Maybe a different brand.
https://aerialfirefighter.vikingair.com/aircraft/cl-215-aircraft
Maybe a different brand.
https://aerialfirefighter.vikingair.com/aircraft/cl-215-aircraft
Viking was all about maintenance and maintains CL-215’s. They also do major work and parts replacement on Twin Otters. This will be their first effort to build planes from the ground up. I think there is now a lot of political will and building a fire fighting plane has the world’s attention. There will be a lot of competition. I’m thinking they may get bought out by another manufacturer eventually.
The CL-215 was built by Candair and then Bombardier.
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edyvw
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It is hard to emphasize wait line for these airplanes. Considering that, I find it astonishing that since production of CL-415 was ceased, they couldn’t ramp up production faster. SH-70 Firehawk is now name of the game. Colorado got two recently, and considering its multirole nature, most landlocked places will go this route. CL-515 will find players customers in Mediterranean, South Asia, probably Australia, but I think they missed big opportunity to be biggest player in this game. When production of CL-415 was stopped, countries went for AT-802 Fireboss in droves. So, there is huge interest.
Bombardier ceased existence in 2015 and Viking picked them up and resurrected the Dehavilland name. It was probably the most recent forest fire season that gave them the push to attempt production again. Better late than never. I’m trying to figure out how much government assistance they have, but even the previous Premier of Alberta was spouting off about it. The latest Premier is pro-business. Here is something from Wiki.
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edyvw
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Nah, interest in CL515 has been for a long time. There was a push even during the production of CL-415 for an upgrade. I mean, Cl-215 are still hot goods, and it is hard to overemphasize how run down those aircraft are.
I think Dehaviland should get into the Airliner business. The Boeing Airbus Duopoly is terrible. Sure you have Embraer and Bombardier which sold their aircraft line to Mitsubishi which had an almost certified design but did zilch with it.
edyvw
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I would keep an eye on Comac.
Definitely. Some Bittoggers complain they wouldn’t trust a Made in China balljoint and now Chinese made jets are about to make their international debut.
We’re hoping the Q400 will somehow go back into production. It would be a long shot. Westjet flys Q-400’s and Dash 8’s from here to Vancouver and Calgary.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
nah, they don't make financial sense anymore. Airbus A220 and EMB175-195 are good in that market. ATR has it covered with 72-600.
The more jet engines are frugal, the harder it is for props.
Interesting. The Airbus A220 is the continuation of the Bombardier C Series after Bombardiier was acquired by Airbus. It’s still manufactured in Mirabel, Quebec as well as Mobile, Alabama. ATR is making smaller gains up in Canada.
There is a sub level of regional services that simply cannot function with new aircraft, let alone new jet aircraft. Our town of 20,000 is serviced with SAAB 340’s and Dash 8’s. Of course, they’ll need to replaced in the next 20 years, but not sure if we’ll be seeing jet service anytime soon.
A Turboprop would definitely be a niche market and cost control would be key. There are still about 100 Dash 8 and Q-400 aircraft flying in Canada and another 700 in service arond the world serving shorter routes and airstrips limited by geography. They were never much of a USA thing except maybe in Hawaii where there are still 40 planes doing island hopping. One thing for sure, it’s cool to see those curved propellers spool up to speed until they’re a blur.
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Here’s an Alaska Airlines Q-400.
Plane looks like a CG nightmare, and almost no wing surface area, scary looking.
That makes the good old DC-6 look good.
That makes the good old DC-6 look good.
I remember a story of a baggage handler with zero flight experience stole a Q-400 and pulled off some pretty amazing aerobatics. Would be interesting to see what a real pilot could pull off in one.
Not much…because that kid wanted to die…and a real pilot would want to live…
Here’s a view from below.
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