Conair Group Inc. of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, formerly known as Conair Aviation, is a company specializing in retrofitting firefighting aircraft, maintaining customer and company-owned aircraft and aerial firefighting. Conair currently[when?] employs over 250 staff and has a fleet of aircraft that are broken down into two categories; air attack (a.k.a. bird dog), and airtankers (a.k.a. waterbombers). Conair specializes in fire management support by providing services and products to forest protection agencies around the world. In 1996 Conair became a Canadian Air Tractor dealer for the AT-802F air tanker.[4] A former Conair Group division; Cascade Aerospace was acquired by the IMP Group of Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2012.
History
Convair CV580 Airtanker
The company was started by a consortium led by Les Kerr consisting of: Leslie George "Les" Kerr, K. Barry Marsden, Herman Joseph "Slim" Knights, Ronald "Ron" F. Connelly of Whitehorse, Yukon, and John De Voin (a silent partner). Les Kerr had worked for Skyway Air Services for seventeen years and put together the five man group to take control of the fire control and aerial agricultural interests of Skyway. In the transaction, they took 35 employees and 19 single engine aircraft. This took place after the owner for Skyway (Art Seller), had suffered a stroke and wanted to eliminate some of his workload.
Skyway Air Services was started shortly after the close of WW2. They were pioneers in the development and operation of aerial firefighting, agricultural and pest control spraying. After the interests were sold, Skyway continued to operate as a flying school and charter business out of Langley, British Columbia.
The new company was called Conair Aviation Ltd. and was incorporated in April 1969, receiving their operating license on October 22, 1969. As part of the deal, the aircraft and assets that Conair purchased were: thirteen Grumman Avengers, five Boeing Stearmans, one North American Harvard and the existing Skyway hangar located at Abbotsford, British Columbia.[citation needed]
In 1978 Conair acquired a subsidiary; Frontier Helicopters based at Watson Lake, Yukon. This rotary division was renamed Conair Helicopters in 1999. Conair also went into the Air Cargo business in 1980 by starting a company named Swiftair Cargo. They filed for license in early July 1979, and flew for the first time on September 15, 1980, using two Douglas DC-8 aircraft flying in opposite directions across Canada. Swiftair Cargo went into receivership by May 1982.[5]
By 1984 Conair had the world's largest private fleet of Air Tankers including 50 fixed wing aircraft and 15 helicopters and by the early 1990s has grown to over 90 aircraft. Conair Aviation Ltd. later became Conair Group Inc., and they continue to be based out of Abbotsford, British Columbia.[6][7][8]
Fleet
As of December 2023, according to Transport Canada the Conair Group fleet numbers 60 aircraft.[3]
Air Tanker, nine of which have amphibious scooping capability. Listed at the Conair site as the Air Tractor AT802 Amphib, Air Tractor 802AF and F[10][11]
In addition Conair show at least one Canadair CL-215, operated by Aero-Flite, that has been retrofitted and converted into a CL-415EAF with turboprop engines.[17]
The Dash 8 were originally two used Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s, acquired from Scandinavian Airlines System, that were modified by the Conair Group's former[18] division Cascade Aerospace of Abbotsford, British Columbia. These aircraft are set up for dual roles and were modified for the Sécurité Civile to act both as fire-fighting water bombers in fire season and as civilian or cargo transport aircraft in the off season. This aircraft is designated the Q400-MR (Multi Role). The aircraft can be reconfigured into the passenger, cargo or aerial fire control role in under three hours and can drop 10,000 L (2,200 imp gal; 2,600 US gal)in the tanker role. In recent years 14 Dash 8 Q400’s were purchase from Flybe and also converted into tankers.
In January 2021, Conair announced that it had purchased 11 Q400s from defunct British airline Flybe for conversion into Q400AT and Q400MR configurations.[20]
Conair's air attack aircraft, more commonly known as "bird dogs", are aircraft that contain the pilot and Air Attack Officer. The bird dogs ensure the runs to be made by the laden airtankers are safe and free of obstructions. The crew inside the bird dog determine the run locations and drop types to be made, coordinate the aerial action with the ground crews if present and control the airspace around the fire. These aircraft are always used in conjunction with the airtankers.
Former attack aircraft include the Cessna T210, Cessna Skymaster T337 including the piston 337, and Piper Aerostars,[21] since superseded by the Turbo Commander TC-690A and Cessna Caravan C208B. A single Cessna Citation was also used for a very brief period but is no longer in use.
Air tankers
Conair's tanker fleet currently includes the Air Tractor AT-802F and AT-802F Amphibious "Fireboss" variants, Avro RJ85, Canadair CL-415 and both the Bombardier Q400-AT and Q400MRE. Conair's headquarters are in Abbotsford at the Abbotsford International Airport which also is where their maintenance and retrofitting facility is located. Conair bases their aircraft under contract to fire control agencies throughout western Canada and the United States. Currently, Conair airtanker groups (a group consists of one birddog and from one to four airtankers) are contracted to agencies in BC, Alberta, Yukon and Alaska. Conair serves as the Canadian dealer for Air Tractor of Olney, Texas, which produces the AT-802F, one of only two types of aircraft specifically designed for aerial firefighting (the other being the Canadair CL-415 model).
Former air tankers include the Grumman Avenger, Douglas (A-26) Invader, Conair Firecat (retrofitted S-2 Trackers), Douglas DC-6, Convair CV-580 (retired in 2022) and Lockheed Electra (retired in 2020).
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