If someone told you that South American planes were flying in the Balkans, that might sound strange or out of place, being they are a long way from home.
However, seeing South American AT-802s over the Balkans is very real. It is now a new normal for the Balkans and will remain so through August. So, spotters, if you're into exotic birds, keep in mind that one Argentinian and one Chilean Air Tractor have just arrived in the Balkans.
SEATs landed at the international airport in Skopje on the afternoon of August 1st, 2024, to help fight the ongoing fires in North Macedonia. On their way to Skopje, they were spotted at Sarajevo airport, where they stopped to refuel and give the pilots a rest.
The planes are a combo of an Argentine aircraft bearing the registration number LV-FBB belonging to Aero Gardian Plan Nacional del Manejo del Fuego, as well as the Chilean-registered CC-DER, owned by the Helicópteros del Pacífico Chilean Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF). Both aircraft were hired by the Spanish company Titan Firefighting Company and are currently working under contract for the Ministry of Interior of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. Their deployment to North Macedonia is part of the German aid to the small Balkan nation of some 2 million citizens.
On their way to Skopje, these two aircraft started from Braunschweig airport and passed through Graz, Austria, and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once at their destination, they started aerial fire-fighting operations on August 2nd.
Devastating wildfires are again present in North Macedonia, which has been fighting them for the past few days, again relying on local resources - three Air Tractor AT-802A Fire Boss amphibian firefighting planes and four helicopters: two belonging to the national police (one Bell 412EP and one Mi-171E) and two Army (one Mi-8MT and one Mi-17).
Since the local capabilities for aerial firefighting are insufficient, the Government in Skopje issued a new call for international assistance on July 30th, 2024. The Ministry of Interior of Serbia immediately reacted by bringing in an Agusta-Bell AB212 helicopter based at Petrovec air base near Skopje from July 31st, 2024. The aircraft was later moved to the Idrizovo police base for the rest of its deployment.
The Czech Republic provided one Slovak-registered UH-60A helicopter operated by the Slovak Training Academy, an additional AS-532AL Cougar helicopter was provided by the Slovenian Army, along with two Hungarian military helicopters, a Mi-17 stationed with EUFOR in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Airbus H225M also arrived North Macedonia on August 1. Additionally, two amphibious Air Tractor AT-802 Fire Boss planes from Sweden arrived in Skopje in the early morning of August 2nd coming from Sweden using the route Stockholm/Sweden- Lodz/Poland-Timisoara/Romania-Skopje/North Macedonia.
This new international effort aims to stop the wildfire tragedy in North Macedonia, which has already this year claimed lives, burned a large number of houses, and set fire to an incredible 1.12% of North Macedonia's territory.
