Mark, my son is a wildland firefighter based out of Dorintosh by Meadowlake. He really enjoyed your video and ID’d several of these Convairs and plus the voice of the bird dog pilot that came up on the radio. Over the last 3 summers he has been on most the fires including out of the Laronge base.
Nice to see them still going. Hopefully they find a good home or get restored back to passenger configuration. I remember seeing their PBYs they had back in 1990.
Congratulations fire fightings, you are an example to the world!!! I'm 70 years old, the same age as one of the aircraft, at least. Antonio from Brazil.
I used to commute between Anchorage, Alaska and a pump station in a 580. They retired them because of the cost to install a secure cockpit door. The one we flew in came out of the factory in March of 1953, the same age as me.
Love the '580' ! Interesting, I've never seen a 580 with rounded prop tips, only squared tips. These were with the old Allegheny Airlines CV-580's. (Yes, I'm that old 🙂 )
If I am not mistaken probably those Q-400’s that coming in 2027 are probably ex Horizon Air . This is a just a 😊 theory because I know Canada built those Q-400’s
Probably ex Conair aircraft from Abbotsford BC, they would have converted them to air tankers, and had them in service for years, but have been phased out of their fleet reciently. Looks like Saskatchewan was a buyer.
They use the CL’s actual firefighting but the convair’s use a special fire retardant mix which they use a lot more to protect parts of the forest that hasn’t been hit by wildfires yet but is in the path of the approach fire. That’s just 1 out of many missions these aircraft do which makes them an essential tool along with the CL’s.
Mark, my son is a wildland firefighter based out of Dorintosh by Meadowlake. He really enjoyed your video and ID’d several of these Convairs and plus the voice of the bird dog pilot that came up on the radio. Over the last 3 summers he has been on most the fires including out of the Laronge base.
Nice to see them still going. Hopefully they find a good home or get restored back to passenger configuration. I remember seeing their PBYs they had back in 1990.
Used to see these at the base in Meadow Lake all the time. They would fly right over my yard on approach/takeoffs. Great video thanks.
Nice work, Mark. Thanks for sharing the video of these magnificent aircraft.
Congratulations fire fightings, you are an example to the world!!!
I'm 70 years old, the same age as one of the aircraft, at least.
Antonio from Brazil.
I used to commute between Anchorage, Alaska and a pump station in a 580. They retired them because of the cost to install a secure cockpit door. The one we flew in came out of the factory in March of 1953, the same age as me.
one year and one month older than me! April 22, 1954. 🥴
These are indeed classic airliners
Love the '580' ! Interesting, I've never seen a 580 with rounded prop tips, only squared tips. These were with the old Allegheny Airlines CV-580's. (Yes, I'm that old 🙂 )
Those Convairs have charisma...it'll be interesting to see if the Q-400s have 70 year flying careers like the Convairs did.
Really amazing video!
Beautiful planes ❤
Great to these old birds still earning their keep.
If I am not mistaken probably those Q-400’s that coming in 2027 are probably ex Horizon Air . This is a just a 😊 theory because I know Canada built those Q-400’s
I believe one of those Q-400's are ex Air Berlin. I saw a photo of the first one. Registered as C-FFYJ
They have tanker 520 which is a new Q-400 and is looks amazing
This CV-580 sounds like C-130 Hercules
Probably ex Conair aircraft from Abbotsford BC, they would have converted them to air tankers, and had them in service for years, but have been phased out of their fleet reciently. Looks like Saskatchewan was a buyer.
Did you fly into Saskatoon and drive up, or did you take Rise from YXE?
I drove from Saskatoon
Why not use CL 415 instead? Just skim the water from lakes intead of having to re-supply at an airport?
They use the CL’s actual firefighting but the convair’s use a special fire retardant mix which they use a lot more to protect parts of the forest that hasn’t been hit by wildfires yet but is in the path of the approach fire. That’s just 1 out of many missions these aircraft do which makes them an essential tool along with the CL’s.
What happens to the 580’s after phase out?
P-3 propellers.
I wonder what kind of a baby plane it will give birth to... 😁
This all seems backwards to me!