Originally Posted by
M.Maus
Go to youtube and search for Canadair CL-415 water bombers, and idiots with boats and you will see they are spaced 20 seconds apart - 18 tonnes an hour and 15,120 tonnes per 14 hour day sure beats the hell out of 110 tonnes a day with two hours between drops (so that the fire can dry out the drop zone and start it burning again) and waiting for the fire to be out of control before bringing in the heavy hitters..
OOOPPPS
That should have been 18 tonnes a minute, not hour. In other words, the Croatian Canadair fleet delivers more water in a minute than the 737 historically delivers in two hours. The 146 will have a similar delivery rate to the 737 and, like the 737 can only load as fast as the local water mains can supply the water. To speed that up will cost millions in installing large diameter water pipes to an apron on each airport and having suitable pumps to load at the maximum rate the aircraft can accept. All up she could get two Canadairs for our taxes and have a potent fire fighting asset.
And Canadairs can carry people and supplies, like the 737, though not as many/much. I do not know what the 146 can carry but I suspect it cannot carry people..