Canadian Fire Fighting Aircraft Make Stop at St. Louis Downtown Airport

By Mark Nankivil

Two Canadian CL-415 firefighting aircraft stopped at St. Louis Downtown Airport for a few days recently during a cross-country return flight to their base in Quebec, Canada. The CL-415 amphibious "Super Scooper" is a turbo-prop powered development of the piston-engine CL-215 series. This aircraft can continuously load water from a local source and deploy it on the fire site. It also has a foam injection system. Along with the powerplant upgrade, the CL-415 provides heavier load carrying ability, modern avionics and aerodynamic improvements over the 1960s-era CL-215. The Bombardier type certificates for the CL-215 and CL-415 aircraft are now owned and supported by Viking Air Ltd.