Video Shows Three Canadair CL-415 “Water Bomber” Aircraft Picking Up Water Together During Firefighting Mission In France

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

Related articles

• U.S. Marine Corps helicopters aboard amphibious assault ship and USAF drones lead new round of U.S. air strikes on ISIS in Libya
• Here’s what a Harrier Jump Jet’s vertical landing at night looks like through IR vision
• The Italian Navy is testing a tiny Camcopter drone from its amphibious warfare ship
• Rare video of Marines AV-8B Harrier no nose gear vertical landing on amphibious assault ship
• Italian Navy Elite team conduct disabled submarine rescue training with support of EH-101 Merlin helicopter
• Stunning images of U.S. Marines free-fall parachute ops from Black Hawk helicopters in the

About David Cenciotti

WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn instagram

David Cenciotti is a 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 five books and contributed to many more ones.