How The $30 Million 'Super Scooper' Plane Was Built To Fight Wildfires

This $30 million Super Scooper is the only plane in the world that was designed specifically to fight wildfires. The aircraft performs a dangerous dive down to a body of water, scoops up 1,400 gallons of water in 12 seconds, and drops its load of water on raging forest fires. We went inside this massive aircraft to find out how it works, what it takes to fly it, and why it’s considered the most efficient aerial-firefighting aircraft in the world.

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How The $30 Million 'Super Scooper' Plane Was Built To Fight Wildfires

[fritz]

As a firefighter, we love these. We call them dippsy ducks, or just ducks. When firefighters here in Alaska get in a tight spot, the sound of this thing coming is like an angel saying, "(here to help)".

[boydolomite]

fish that gets sprayed over the air: my time has come.

[alexandredomingues]

“30 million dollars is very expensive for any aircraft”
Military jets: Hold my beer

[ajmcmillan]

These guys are a blessing! They flew over my house and saved our property! Thank you all so much for what you do!! Continue fighting the good fight!!

[spongebobette]

My Dad was chief designer for the Waterbomber . It was brought to market in 1969 as the CL-2-15 (Canadair Limited). A stamp was issued by Canada post. I sheets of them. My father passed in 2017 at the age of 97.

[patrickdaly]

The west coast needs a fleet of these things. They’re far more essential than a wing of F35s.

[Zappe]

There are only 8 Super Scooper planes in the country, and all of them are in New Mexico right now helping us fight back the massive fires we're experiencing right now. Thank you so much to the brave pilots of these planes! 💖

[thomasanderson]

Imagine feeling the difference of draft piloting that thing from when it drops tons and tons of weight in a matter of seconds

[yuGtahT]

2:38 when your animator has no idea how a plane works, so they just wiggle it

[antonykuo]

Firefighters: "30 million is very expensive for any aircraft."
Me: WTF is USAF Doing

[roscoechance]

These air crews deserve some respect, holy crap that’s a dangerous job

[_lime.]

Basically the A-10 of the firefighting world. When you hear it's engines roaring in the distance, you know help is on the way.

[somedude]

Imagine being the guy who was first given the task to engineer a whole plane that picks up water then releases it all in one flight

[bloodnreaper]

They should of called it the “Super soaker”.

[jonmce]

An interesting thing about this a/c is the bow is armoured. If picking up loads in forested lakes there are often old stumps and logs just below the surface. They would punch through normAL a/c with no problem. That is why the bow is made of heavier aluminum.

[seanow]

It’s worth it considering how much fire destroys.

[chaileeportraits]

The wright brothers are one of the people who would be happy when they see this masterpiece

[sekillabee]

Am I the only person who thinks this looks like Baloo’s plane, “The Sea Duck” from TaleSpin?

[largestella]

I got to see one of these in action in Croatia recently, and it was amazing.
There was a fire high up in the Velebit mountains that you could see but could not easily access by land, so one of these things came from nowhere and started dumping water onto this fire. It must have been dumping and picking up every 3 minutes, since the mountains are literally on the coast.

Truly an awesome thing to watch, sending love to the talented Croatian Airforce pilots! ❤

[elazarpimentel]

These guys have to know about flying on air, flying on water, targeting and firefighting. Hats off.