Watch This Pretty Unusual Footage.
The video below was filmed at Cagnes-sur-Mer, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France.
It shows three Canadair CL-415 water bomber aircraft involved in a firefighting mission near the picturesque French Riviera town on Jul. 24, 2017. Whilst “Superscooper” planes are constantly supporting firefighting operations across the world for decades it’s at least unusual to see three water bomber planes scoop up water from the sea at the same time.
The aircraft in the footage below (filmed by Amine Abid) belong to the fleet of the French Sécurité Civile that operates a fleet of more than a dozen CL-415, a type of amphibious aircraft developed to deliver massive quantities of suppressant in quick response to fires.
The firefighting mission is undoubtedly one of the most hazardous for pilots. The very low altitude, the smoke that reduces visibility, winds causing turbulence, the large concentration of aircraft in the same area, the generally abrupt topography and the need of perform several fill-drop cycles in a short time make the water bomber role particularly risky. You can find several videos on the Internet showing the CL-415s cooperatively working against forest fires: however, you will hardly find anything like three water bombers performing a water pick-up in close sequence as shown in this pretty cool video.
Encore une fois bravo aux #pompiers qui prennent des risques pour sauver des vies #Carros #canadair #incendies ?? pic.twitter.com/DhOToIZoDR
— Amine ABID (@niceamine06) July 24, 2017
H/T @mehdiAA for the heads-up
