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Found on the Air North Twitter page, November 25, 2021. |
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One of the most famous planes in British Columbia history, a Martin Mars water bomber used to carry and drop vast amounts of water on wildfires, is for sale for $5 million. "The opportunity to purchase and preserve a unique part of aviation history is now available for the discerning buyer, or donor," says the listing from the California-based seller, Platinum Fighter Sales. The signature red and white plane, beloved by many throughout the province, was brought into service in the late 1950's as a powerful solution to the province's wildfires. The massive air tanker was built as a transport plane for the U.S. Navy in 1946, and is one of the largest fixed-wing water bombers in the world, with a capacity to carry more than 27,000 litres of water. Historians say the U.S. Navy produced six of the planes as prototypes for large scale transport between the West Coast and Hawaii. But when aviation technology progressed, the planes were retired and put up for auction. B.C.'s forestry industry came together to purchase and convert four of the planes into firefighting machines. The one for sale, the Hawaii Mars II, is the only airworthy example of the plane left in the world. It last flew in 2016 and is currently in Sproat Lake near Port Alberni, B.C. Coulson Aviation has another Martin Mars water bomber, the Philippine Mars, which is not airworthy and will most likely end up in a museum. Source: CBC News |
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The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract to Boom Supersonic aimed at accelerating research and development for the company’s Overture supersonic airliner model. According to Boom, its Overture supersonic airliner is designed to seat between 65 and 88 passengers, travel at Mach 1.7 and have a range of 4,250 NM. Boom is targeting 2025 for its rollout of the Overture with entry-into-service planned “by the end of the decade.” Source: AVweb.com |
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First flights, for young and old. The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association offers a fun opportunity for young children who may never get the chance to participate in general aviation, to “pilot” an aircraft. It is called COPA for Kids. It happens across Canada completely free for participants and is volunteer run by local COPA flights, similar to EAA’s Young Eagles. I have participated in two events so far in my flying hobby and will continue to in the future. Living in Nova Scotia, the Summerside PEI COPA Flight 125 is the nearest COPA flight to me that offers this event. I volunteered my time in 2018 and again in 2021, and it is always a very rewarding day for me. To see the joy a short flight in an aircraft brings to a young person is uplifting to say the least. Safety is paramount and the kids and their families are allowed as close as safely possible to the operations on the ramp. They plan all year for it and it definitely shows. The event is organized so that each child gets to fly right seat and, if comfortable, to take the controls to be a pilot. The children in groups are given a full airport safety briefing in a large auditorium in the airport to start, then get to view the aircraft from a safe distance. They are then assigned a ground person who escorts them to the aircraft and helps to strap them in and the fun begins. After I brief my passenger on my safety features and put a headset on them, we taxi out for run-up. Most of them have never been in a plane before, let alone behind the controls of one. Off we would go for a brief 10-15 minute circuit over the local area around Prince Edward Island, with them having the opportunity to fly. Source: airfactsjournal.com from an article by Bruce Spears. |
