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Typically, it is flown by on firefighting operations with a Those on yellow, or 30-minute, alert can leave the
crew of two, though a third person can sit in a jump seat airport property, but must be able to return quickly,
during training; trips to fight fires out of the province if needed. Those on five-minute or red alert are
mean that maintenance engineers and gear come along required to stay on the firefighting base and close
too. Norm said NAO’s engineers are “absolutely to their aircraft, on which all maintenance checks
amazing.” Whether an aircraft had skimmed 50 loads or would have been completed. When the call for a
only one when it shuts down at the end of the day, “the mission arrives, the first officer races to the
treatment is the same.” Aft of the cockpit is a silver tank dispatcher to get the necessary paperwork that
for the injection of detergent that binds together the gives the heading to the fire. Then he boards the
water so that it falls in a mass. A manual counter on the aircraft and shuts its doors while the pilot starts the
flight deck keeps track of the number of drops left before engine.
the detergent runs out. It carries enough for between 30
The CL-215s are nicknamed “skimmers” for the
and 35 loads. “This big, massive bloody airplane and it’s good reason that they skim the surface of lakes
empty,” marveled Norm.
near fires to fill up with water. The Convairs are
On a normal day of operations, it can undertake two four- dubbed “mud-haulers” because they carry a load
hour missions, which would take crew members to their mixed with a reddish powder that holds the water
legal limit. How many hours they log, of course, depends together as it falls through the air and also lets it be
the fire conditions, which in turn are linked to the seen on the ground. Typically, two tankers work
weather. Weather conditions in northern Saskatchewan with a “bird dog” that flies at about 1,000 feet over
in 2014 were good, Norm recalled, so he logged only 80 a fire. As much as possible, crew members in all
hours that summer. aircraft remain stable. “That way, you’re always
working with the same people,” Norm said.
Aboard the bird dog are a pilot and an aerial attack
officer – a specialist in the behavior of fire and how
to fight it. They monitor radios connecting them to
tankers in the area, helicopters, the base and
firefighting crews on the ground. There is
considerable friendly rivalry between the crews of
“skimmers” and “mud-haulers”.
Truth be told, Norm said, they nicely complement
each other with the Convairs using their greater
speed to reach a fire first, then lay down loads of
retardant to protect structures or settlements, or
nudge the fire in a needed direction, before
heading off to pick up another load.
Crews that are on green alert won’t fly for anywhere Meanwhile, the skimmers find the fire, check the
from a couple of hours to even a couple of days if wind and begin looking for a nearby lake for
weather is favorable to the firefighting crews. skimming. It must be large enough to handle the CL-
Next, the skimmer crews set up a pattern of skimming 215, with an “out” at the end. A major sin would be
water, then heading back to the fire (taking care to drop skimming with the water tank doors open. “I don’t
water and retardant into the wind) then start the process think it will sink you, but it would cause a lot of
again. damage,” said Norm. Nope, the big danger is a
“deadhead” or floating log just below the surface of
The record for a Northern Air Operations tanker, Norm
a lake as they’ve been known to smash the probe
was told, was a four-hour mission with 99 drops before that scoops up water and even rip a hole in an
the crew concluded that because of the repetition and
aircraft hull.
monotony “they were making too many mistakes”.
