Waterbombing with a Dash-8 at the Gatineau Airshow

The first of 2 drops of 5,000 litres of water with the Conair Dash-8 400-AT at the Gatineau Airshow.

Yesterday Steve and I made what is becoming an annual pilgrimage to the Gatineau Airshow in Quebec. This was one of the last shows for the Snowbirds (the very last event in the Ottawa-Gatineau area), and when they resume show operations in 2030 or so they'll be flying the new Sisken II turboprops and their Tutor jets will be only a memory. The Snowbirds have flown the Tutors for something like 55 years, so this was an historic event and the place was jam-packed!

The Conair Dash-8 400-AT parked after the show. It has a 10,000 litre tank

The show featured much more than the Snowbirds. One plane that caught my interest was the Conair Dash-8 400-AT, which is basically a De Havilland Dash-8 that Conair converted to an air tanker that can do things like fight wild fires. According to their website they've converted 20+ Dash-8s to this role, and the first one flew in 2020. At the show they put on a demonstration of what it looks like when 5,000 litres of water is dropped from this airplane.

The second of two drops of 5,000 litres of water.

It's quite an impressive sight. I didn't know that a Dash-8 passenger plane could be converted to do this sort of thing. 

I love the tail art on this airCreebec Dash-8.

I'm used to seeing Dash-8s used as passenger planes, like the Dash-8 100 operated by airCreebec in the above photo. Apparently it's quite a versatile machine.

On the way out I saw this enticing ad to "Become a Bush Pilot". If I had to do it all over again, maybe I'd take them up on their offer, and hope some passersby did. Until next year!