Waterbombers in Portugal

[jan_olieslagers]

It has been a long time since I posted, but some of you might remember I left Belgium after retirement, and bought a house in Portugal, where I could afford one.

This evening, I was agreebly surprised to spot two consecutive overflights by CL-215 waterbombers, at quite low altitude. I thought they were on exercise, preparing against the oncoming season of summer fires, until a third came along, and I went out to watch more closely, and immediately noticed the sharp smell of wood burning - this is not an exercise, it's a real fire!

More planes came along, always on a strictly identical course - it seems these pilots are well-trained, and adhere to well-defined procedures and planning. After the CL-215s came AT802 "Fire Boss" floatplanes, showing that all available resources were being turned out, the fire must have been serious. Two years ago, while I was moving, a distant relation of me who lives at the other side of our little town told me he had had the forest burning at only 30 metres from his house - fearsome!

These waterbombers are on hire or loan from Spain. I often see one or two AT802 parked at Coimbra aerodrome LPCO, and occasionally a similarly equipped and painted helicopter. Portugal has no fire-fighting aeroplanes of its own, as yet, though a couple of CL515 are reportedly on order.

Of course the first concern must be the possible victims of the fire - I do not yet know the exact location, it will soon be in the local news. Must have been near the Camporez industrial area, I think. Meanwhile, I couldn't help enjoying the deep groaning sound of those slow running twin row radial piston engines, a delight to any old plane spotter!

[jan_olieslagers]

As I expected, it is now in the local news:
https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/f ... ios-aereos
I had quite misjudged the location, though. After all I cannot be blamed, I think, I have only been living round here for two years now.

(the picture in the article is a bit misleading: it does show a Canadair amphibian, but it is turboprop powered, i.e. a CL-415 or CL-515; what I saw and heard were definitely CL-215s, powered by the glorious Double Wasp twin-row radial piston engines.)

[sn26567]

It has been a long time since I posted, but some of you might remember I left Belgium after retirement and bought a house in Portugal, where I could afford one.

Welcome back! And keep us informed about aviation in Portugal!

[Madelynover]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds like you had a pretty stressful evening when you discovered a fire near your area in Portugal.