One of the province’s water bombers is out of commission.
It’s because the CL-215t air tanker struck something in the water on a La Ronge-area lake during a training flight on June 13.
Wildfire Management executive director Steve Roberts says the underside of the aircraft was damaged and it’s not clear yet how much the repairs will cost.
“No, we have to get quotes from the engineering team at Bombardier in Montreal,” he says. “They do all the engineering work. Once that estimate is done for the engineering, then we will have to price out the parts and how many man hours of labour it will take to take it apart, repair it and put it back together.”
Roberts hopes they will get the plane back in the air within a few weeks.
It’s already been flown to Abbotsford, BC for repairs.
The aircraft is one of six water bombers in the province’s fleet.