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Conair Group

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Not to be confused with Conair Corporation, Con Air, or Comair (disambiguation).

Conair Aerial Firefighting.
An Air Tractor AT-802
IATA ICAO Call sign
N/A FGD[1] FIREGUARD[1]
FoundedApril 1969
AOC #Canada:2626[2]
HubsAbbotsford International Airport
Fleet size69[3]
Parent companyConair Group Inc.
HeadquartersAbbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
Key peopleBarry Marsden (President & CEO)
Websitehttp://www.conair.ca/

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

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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

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According to Transport Canada, as of December 2024, the Conair Group fleet numbers 59 aircraft.[3]

Conair Group fleet
Aircraft Number Variants Notes
Aero Commander 690 8 1 - Commander 690
5 - Commander 690A
2 - Commander 690B		 Air attack or bird dog, listed at Conair as Turbo Commander TC-690A[9] and one listed by Transport Canada as a Rockwell 690A
Air Tractor AT-802 25 3 - AT-802
22 - AT-802A		 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]
Avro RJ85 3 Avro RJ85 Jet air tanker, listed at Conair as the Avro RJ85 AT[12]
Cessna 185 Skywagon 1 A185F Not listed at Conair website[13]
Cessna 208 Caravan 5 208B Grand Caravan Air attack or bird dog, listed at Conair as Cessna Caravan C208B[14]
Cessna Citation 1 Model 525 Not listed at Conair website
Convair CV-240 1 CV-440 Not listed at Conair website
De Havilland Canada Dash 8 17 DHC-8-402 Air tanker[15] and multi-role[16]
Total 61

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.

Conair also previously converted three Fokker F27 Friendship turboprops for use as air tankers.[19]

In January 2021, Conair announced that it had purchased 11 Q400s from defunct British airline Flybe for conversion into Q400AT and Q400MR configurations.[20]

Air attack

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Piper Aerostar "bird dog" parked beside a Convair 580 air tanker

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 eight Aero Commander 690 (listed by Conair as Turbo Commander TC-690A), five Cessna 208 Caravan (listed by Conair as the Cessna Caravan C208B), and a single Cessna 525B Citation jet (not listed at Conair's website).[22][3]

Air tankers

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Conair's tanker fleet currently includes the Air Tractor AT-802 and Air Tractor AT802F Fire Boss, an amphibious variant, three Avro RJ85, seventeen De Havilland Canada Dash 8 (both the Bombardier Q400-AT and Q400MRE, and the Canadair CL-415 operated by subsidiary, Aero-Flite.[23][24] 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).

Accidents and incidents

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References

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  1. ^ a b "ICAO Designators for Canadian Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services" (PDF). Nav Canada. May 4, 2023. p. 3. Retrieved February 26, 2023. Conair Aviation: FGD, FIREGUARD
  2. ^ Transport Canada (December 27, 2020), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  3. ^ a b c "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Conair". Transport Canada. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  4. ^ [1] Archived 2016-02-12 at the Wayback Machine Conair Group
  5. ^ "Swiftair, Canada's only all-cargo national airline, was placed in..." UPI. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  6. ^ Art Seller and Skyway Air Services
  7. ^ Conair - About
  8. ^ "BC Aviation Hall of Fame". www.bcaviation.com. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  9. ^ "Turbo Commander TC-690A". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  10. ^ "Air Tractor AT802 Fire Boss". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  11. ^ "Air Tractor AT802". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  12. ^ "Avro RJ85 AT". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  13. ^ "Fleet". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  14. ^ "Cessna Caravan C208B". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  15. ^ "Dash 8-400AT Airtanker". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  16. ^ "Dash 8-400MRE Multi Role". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  17. ^ "CL415". Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  18. ^ "Abbotsford's Cascade Aerospace sold to Nova Scotia company". www.vancouversun.com. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  19. ^ http://www.airliners.net, photos of Conair Fokker F27 aircraft
  20. ^ Kaminski-Morrow, David (January 16, 2021). "Flybe Q400s to be converted into firefighters for Conair". Flight Global.
  21. ^ "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: History Search Result". Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  22. ^ "Air Attack". Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  23. ^ "Land-based Airtankers". Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  24. ^ "Amphibious Airtankers". Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  25. ^ "Firefighting Plane Crash in Canada Kills Two". CBS News. AP. August 1, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
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