BAE Systems-supported Avro RJ85 air tanker successfully completes Australian fire-fighting missions Posted on March 19, 2015 ; BAE Systems Press Release The Avro RJ85 Airtanker, owned by Conair, conducts fire-fighting missions in Australia. In December 2013 Aero Flite’s Avro RJ85 Tanker 160 undertook a retardant drop demonstration at Fox Field, California. 8.9K likes. The Erickson Aero Tanker is the most versatile fire bomber available. Conair & Field Air have united to bring the RJ85 and Q400 Airtankers into Australia. The BAe 146/Avro RJ Airtanker meets or exceeds the United States Forest Service Type 1 air tanker requirement. RJ85 and Q400 Airtankers Australia. Illustrations of the new RJ85 air tanker show it with an externally-mounted tank that resembles the 2,600 US gallon tank Conair installed on two Bombardier Q400-MR Airtankers sold to Sécurité Civile in France. A TICK IN ALL THE RIGHT BOXES Mission proven in the aerial fire-fighting role Typically 20 to 25 drops are conducted over a two or three day period. The process involves dropping retardant over a test grid of thousands of cups, to measure the dispersion pattern. When in Australia, this aircraft is operated by the Conair Group with the assistance of their local partner the Field AIr Group. FAA certified standard category 900 miles loaded strike range 5000 foot runway capability loaded Interagency Tanker Board approved 450 knot cruise 3000 gallon capacity in all environments up to 40 degree C Take off and land fully loaded The design and construction of the Conair Avro RJ85 air tanker involved over 30,000 hours of non-recurring OEM engineering support by BAE Systems of Prestwick, Scotland. For the Australian summers of 2014/15, 2015/15, 2016/17 and 2017/18, Field Air have been very proud to work with Conair to bring one RJ85 Air Tanker to Australia and have it based at Avalon Airport in Victoria. These include Neptune Aviation Services, who operate two RJ85 airtankers in Missoula, Montana; Minden Air, based at Minden, Nevada who are testing their first RJ85 air tanker conversion while in the process of converting a second aircraft; and Air Spray who operate from both Red Deer, Canada and Chico Airport, California. Operators include Aero Flite Inc (4x RJ85), 10 Tanker (2 DC10), Aero Air (2 MD87), Couslon Aircrane (1 C130) and Neptune Aviation (4 BAe146).' 'The U.S. Forest Service is cutting the number of large air tankers on exclusive use (EU) contracts this year from 20 to 13. These airtankers are typically loaded with long-term retardant (See FAQ’s for explanation of long-term retardant) at a tanker base prior to departure to a wildfire. About 54,000 hours were contributed by Conair engineering professionals in Abbotsford, along with aerospace technicians from five major contributing vendors. Three former Lufthansa CityLine Avro RJ85 passenger jets are now in Abbotsford. Avro RJ85 The AVRO RJ85 is a 90 seat short-to-medium haul, pressurized passenger jet, offering modern, efficient operations on sectors up to 1500 nautical miles. These aircraft have been selected for this role because of their speed-handling characteristics and the size of the load they can carry. Most recently, in the summer of 2018/19, three RJ85 Air Tankers came down to … Article link on Fireaviation.com. The Avro RJ85 is a multi-engine Large Air Tanker and is based on the British Aerospace Avro RJ85 airframe. From five major contributing vendors or three day period the dispersion pattern cups, measure. Contributed by Conair engineering professionals in Abbotsford bomber available Abbotsford, along Aerospace... 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