February 28, 2010, Macedonia took delivery of its third Air Tractor AT-802A Fire Boss amphibious firefighting aircraft. The Fire Boss flew a nine-hour ferry flight from Valencia to Skopje only a few stops along the way. The last leg of the flight was from Brindisi to Skopje via Greek air space.
The official handover of the aircraft to the Protection and Rescue Directorate of the Republic of Macedonia took place March 1, 2010. This completed Air Tractor Europe S.L., a Valencia, Spain-based company, its obligation to supply the three AT-802A Fire Boss aircraft.
Compared to the previous two planes that were delivered on November 11, 2009, the third Macedonian AT-802A Fire Boss is more advanced – it is equipped with latest generation of the Fire Retardant Dispersal System (FRDS Generation 2) and a very important safety feature – an AmSafe airbag for the pilot.
The Macedonian AT-802A Fire Boss aircraft were built by Air Tractor, Inc. They were modified into amphibians by Air Tractor Europe S.L. using the 10,000 series Fire Boss floats produced by Wipaire, Inc. of Minnesota.
The total value of the contract for supplying Macedonia’s Protection and Rescue Directorate with three AT-802A Fire Boss aircraft, related aircraft equipment, spare parts and training for pilots, engineers and mechanics was $10.3 million USD. Macedonian pilot training was divided into three phases (Italy, Spain, Macedonia), while the training of engineers and mechanics was organized into two phases (Spain and Macedonia).
Macedonian personnel have already successfully completed the out-of-Macedonia phases of their training and are scheduled to complete the Macedonian location of their training by mid-June 2010.
After this is complete, the Protection and Rescue Directorate will be ready to start operating its three AT-802A Fire Boss aircraft. While in Italy, Macedonian pilots learned to fly amphibian planes and the techniques for taking off and landing on water.
They received world-class training from the famous Aero Club Como that was established in 1930 and has specialized in operating amphibious planes ever since. While in Italy, the Macedonian pilots flew amphibian Cessna 172 planes and some flew the larger Cessna 208 Caravan amphibian.
The second phase of the pilot training was conducted from several locations near Valencia. While in Spain, Macedonian pilots received familiarization training in dual cockpit AT-802s equipped with conventional landing gear and the amphibian AT-802 Fire Boss.
The Macedonian pilots were the first pilots in Europe to experience the advantages of the dual cockpit AT-802 Fire Boss that recently became available in Europe in April 2010. Apart from training pilots, Air Tractor Europe also conducted the training of Macedonian engineers and mechanics.
The Macedonian AT-802A Fire Boss fleet will serve within the newly created Aviation Unit of the Protection and Rescue Directorate and will use Skopje – Alexander the Great International Airport as its home base. Ohrid St. Paul the Apostole International Airport, located in southwest Macedonia, will be used as an alternative and forward operating base during the summer firefighting season.
The Protection and Rescue Directorate’s intentions are to use its AT-802A fleet for conducting firefighting operations, reconnaissance flights for early spotting of wildfires, agricultural crop spraying, aerial hydro-mulching and hydro-seeding, as well as for conducting regular flights and exercises to keep pilots current.
For the eventual use of smaller paved and unpaved alternative airfields available across Macedonia and for performing agricultural operations, the Protection and Rescue Directorate has taken delivery of the conventional landing gear and dispersal equipment for each aircraft.
The planes will primarily be used within Macedonia, but will also be available to countries in need of their firefighting capabilities, especially to the Balkan states of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.
Related articles
