Fire fighting with the Fire Boss

February 16, 2011 David Cenciotti Aviation 1

Take a ride on board an Air Tractor AT-802F Fire Boss as it flies as number 2 of a flight of 3 AT-802Fs involved in a fire fighting operation in the mountains near Caserta, in Central Italy. 10 Fire Boss (piloted by 9 pilots from the Italian Air Force and 1 from the Italian Navy with the “water bomber” qualification) are being used by the Italian Civil Protection (under a leasing contract) to support the fleet of 19 Canadair CL-415s that are currently unavailable as the previous contract with SOREM was rescinded after its chief was arrested as a consequence of a big tax swindle and a new tender was issued to find another contractor (a Temporary Consortium of Enterprises by Inaer Helycopter Italia and Inaer Aviones Anfibios Sau).

About David Cenciotti 4036 Articles
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.
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