US company to buy and lease 10 BE10 jet scoopers

[Driving Rain]

http://en.rian.ru/business/20120620/174141864.html


An American company has signed up to buy ten Russian-made Beriev Be-200 amphibian aircraft for use in the fire-fighting “airtanker” role, in a breakthrough contract to the U.S. market for the plane.
“We have contracted for 10 Be-200s to use by us under expected federal and state fire fighting contracts,” says TTE’s President, David Baskett.
TTE will lease the aircraft to airtanker operators in the U.S.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed, but in 2010 Russia’s Emergencies Ministry signed a $330 million deal for eight of the planes configured for firefighting.
Neither Beriev, which makes the planes, or United Aircraft Corporation, Russia's aerospace holding company, was available to confirm the deal on Wednesday.
The contract award follows months of trials for the U.S. Interagency Air Tanker Board, which promotes safety of airtanker operations in the U.S..
The aircraft was demonstrated in Taganrog, south Russia in May, and made practice water-drop demonstration flights for United States Forest Service officials, according to fireplanes.org.
The Taganrog trials were conducted jointly by International Emergency Services, and Beriev, which funded the trials.
The Be-200 can land on water and scoop up 3,000 gallons (12,00 liters) of water into its hull, and can then fly quickly to an affected area and drop its load onto a fire. It can also be reconfigured for search and rescue or passenger flying. Beriev is the world's only maker of large amphibious jet aircraft.
The United States has an urgent need to renew its air tanker fleet as many existing planes in the role are obsolete and coming to the end of their lives. The FAA, the country’s aviation watchdog, recently ordered safety checks on Lockheed Neptune P2V air tankers operated by Neptune Aviation after large cracks were found on a wing spar in one aircraft.

[FlyGy]

Nifty

http://youtu.be/R4EgOj0WKRA

[CLguy]

Wow I can hear the squawking already from south of the border. Pretty bad blow to the mighty American ego when they have to look to the Russians to provide them with the air support they need. We could all see this coming for years, it's just to bad they couldn't.

It's almost laughable when the US news media are reporting on the Colorado disaster. You get all kinds of reports on the military and US people fighting the fires but what they never mention is the fact that there are more Canadian Tankers on it than there is American.

[North Shore]

I'm sure that there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth at Bombardier Amphibious in Montreal, as well. That price isn't too far off that of 415s..

I wonder if they looked into getting tanked 400Qs?

Pretty poor performance for Canada - we're right next door, have all sorts of expertise, and nothing to show for it.

[Siddley Hawker]

A friend sent me this on FB.

[bigsky]

http://en.rian.ru/business/20120620/174141864.html


An American company has signed up to buy ten Russian-made Beriev Be-200 amphibian aircraft for use in the fire-fighting “airtanker” role, in a breakthrough contract to the U.S. market for the plane.
“We have contracted for 10 Be-200s to use by us under expected federal and state fire fighting contracts,” says TTE’s President, David Baskett.
TTE will lease the aircraft to airtanker operators in the U.S.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed, but in 2010 Russia’s Emergencies Ministry signed a $330 million deal for eight of the planes configured for firefighting.
Neither Beriev, which makes the planes, or United Aircraft Corporation, Russia's aerospace holding company, was available to confirm the deal on Wednesday.
The contract award follows months of trials for the U.S. Interagency Air Tanker Board, which promotes safety of airtanker operations in the U.S..
The aircraft was demonstrated in Taganrog, south Russia in May, and made practice water-drop demonstration flights for United States Forest Service officials, according to fireplanes.org.
The Taganrog trials were conducted jointly by International Emergency Services, and Beriev, which funded the trials.
The Be-200 can land on water and scoop up 3,000 gallons (12,00 liters) of water into its hull, and can then fly quickly to an affected area and drop its load onto a fire. It can also be reconfigured for search and rescue or passenger flying. Beriev is the world's only maker of large amphibious jet aircraft.
The United States has an urgent need to renew its air tanker fleet as many existing planes in the role are obsolete and coming to the end of their lives. The FAA, the country’s aviation watchdog, recently ordered safety checks on Lockheed Neptune P2V air tankers operated by Neptune Aviation after large cracks were found on a wing spar in one aircraft.

Appears to be a little back tracking going on now - http://wildfiretoday.com/

Report: U.S. company buys 10 Russian air tankers

There is a flurry of chatter that a company in the United States has purchased 10 Russian-built air tankers. This is not exactly true. David Baskett, President of TTE International Inc., has said for years his plan is to purchase 10 BE-200 amphibious air tankers and then lease them to operators in the United States.

Mr. Baskett told Wildfire Today Friday that he ”signed a contract to buy 10 planes to be delivered over a few years”. He did not specify if any money has actually changed hands, but until the FAA approves the aircraft to be used in this country, which may or may not happen any time soon, and until he has a contract from the U.S. Forest Service or another agency, which may or may not happen at all, it would be foolish to spend $300 to $400 million on Russian-built air tankers.
BE-200 air tanker at Santa Maria, California

BE-200 air tanker at Santa Maria, California, April, 2010. Photo courtesy of Michael Lynn.

But we have to give Mr. Baskett credit for pursuing his dream with vigor. He arranged for the expenses to be paid for two USFS employees to travel to Taganro, Russia the home base of the Beriev company, the manufacturer of the aircraft, to conduct the first phase of an air tanker evaluation using specs of the Interagency Air Tanker Board. Reportedly the result of that evaluation was mostly positive in relation to performing as a scooper air tanker, but not as a conventional retardant-carrying air tanker. The IATB requirements are very different for the two types. In the future it may also be qualified for retardant.

Mr. Baskett is in discussions with the USFS and the Bureau of Land Management about using the aircraft in this country, and is attempting to set up a test of the air tanker in the U.S. to compare its performance to other aircraft, including the military MAFFS C-130.

In April, 2010, Mr. Baskett brought a BE-200 to the United States to attempt to drum up some interest in the aircraft. It was on display at Santa Maria, California for a couple of days and made some demonstration drops.

The BE-200 can carry 3,000 gallons of retardant loaded at an airport, or water it scoops from a lake.

[FlyGy]

A friend sent me this on FB.

Just wondering, the be-200 can carry 12,000kg of water, the CL-415 (according to wiki) can carry 6,140.

So, combined, 10 be-200s can transport 120,000kg of water and 18 CL-415s can transport 110,000kg

Given the operating costs, would 18 CL-415s be a better choice? Considering it would take 2 CL-415s to do the work of a be-200, I am assuming that it would cost more to operate 2 planes over the single one.

The only advantage I can see in getting more planes is the ability to assign resources to more locations.

And please, before you patriotic Bombardier lovers tear me a new one for being so stupid, my question is born of sheer ignorance. I have no idea which would be better and I'm not defending this idea at all.

[North Shore]

I'll take a bit of a tangent at it, fly..

The effectiveness of scoopers pretty much depends on the turn time - how far to a suitable water source, and thus, how many gallons per hour on the fire. It might well be (and it's certainly my perception) that Colorado is a pretty dry state (few lakes), and that retardant machines such as a CV580 are better suited to fire-fighting there - thus my comment about the Q400s.

One can second guess politicians for spending choices - would we (humans) have a moon base now, if it hadn't been for Vietnam; might the USA have new tankers now if they hadn't gone into Iraq? Politicians make spending choices every day that many people disagree with; however, the problems in the USA wrt wildland firefighting have been coming for a while, and been clearly predicted by those in the industry.

WRT the red poster, Manitoba, a long-term Bombardier customer, just paid $200 million for 4 415s and a service contract - I wonder how/where the poster maker got their numbers from? Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant though!