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From Globe Trotting at Dj's Aviation YouTube channel

Air Canada has unveiled an exciting future with a focus as far away as 2030, but what can be determined as some core parts of this all-important next few years?

for the latest posts at the Air Canada Media Centre.

Click the logo to open the Air Canada YouTube channel.

Canadair CL-415 - Super Scooper

Watching new coverage of the recent Los Angeles wildfires, I was, once again, impressed by an aircraft developed and built by Canadair / Bombardier.

Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadair_CL-415

The Canadair CL-415 (Super Scooper, later Bombardier 415) and the De Havilland Canada DHC-515 are a series of amphibious aircraft built originally by Canadair and subsequently by Bombardier and De Havilland Canada.

Introduced during 1966, the CL-215 was the first aircraft specifically designed to be a water bomber. A total of 125 aircraft were constructed prior to the final CL-215 being delivered during May 1990.

During 1987, in response to prevailing market trends towards more efficient, powerful and reliable turboprop powerplants, Canadair undertook the task of retrofitting 17 CL-215 airframes with the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW123AF engines. This engine provided a 15 percent power increase over the original piston engines, as well as enhanced reliability and safety. The retrofitted aircraft were designated CL-215T.

Having conducted the relatively successful CL-215T programme, the company decided to develop the CL-415, which would be a new production series.

On December 6 1993, the CL-415 conducted its maiden flight. One year later, a 180-day sales tour traversing 21 countries commenced using a CL-415 owned by the Quebec Government. That same year, Bombardier stated that it was in the planning phase of a six-point improvement plan for the CL-415, which was principally intended to diversify its capabilities.

Orders for the type were promptly received from several countries, which included several lease and purchase arrangements; by July 1996, 37 examples were reportedly in service with operators in Canada, France, Italy, and Spain. Starting in 1998, the CL-415 was being assembled at Bombardier Aerospace's facility near North Bay/Jack Garland Airport in North Bay, Ontario and tested on Lake Nipissing.

During the 2010s, according to aerospace periodical Flight International, there was a downturn in sales of the type. A total of ninety-five CL-415s had been completed when Bombardier closed down the production line in October 2015, although the company continued to actively market the type as well as to provide support for the existing fleet beyond this date.

There are currently plans to update the aircraft and rename it to 'De Havilland Canadair CL-515'.

See dehavilland.com for details.

Canadair CL-415 C-GILN demonstrating to the Taiwanese Government
on the Northern coast of Taiwan on May 6, 2002.

Photo by Steven Byles

Submitted by Linda Wills - Halifax, Nova Scotia (YHZ) I am absolutely delighted to receive the NetLetter. I worked with Air Canada in the late 60s. I was with the airlines when we wore the green outfits and the bowler hats. In summer we wore turquoise with little beige pillbox hats. Since I was bilingual I was based in Montreal - although I wanted to move to Vancouver. This is me today at 82! A grandmother of 6 and great grandmother also soon to be 6.


Submitted by Gordon Croucher - I just read the NetLetter #1550, and the name Nick Boere jumped out at me. I thought I would send you a scan of the Toronto Sun (May 24, 1988) that put Air Canada on the front page in a promotional photo for an 'Aircraft Pull' for Participation Canada. They are right to left clockwise: Bill Walker, Jean-Yves Neault, Sylvie Atterbury, Tom Au Yeung, Mary Wolf, Gord Croucher (submitter) and Nick Boere. Editors' Note: We searched through past issues of Horizons for a sharper version of this photo but did not find it. However, we did find the image below from the July 13, 1988 issue with the caption: Seventy of our Toronto Airport employees joined forces against a Worldways team for the annual aircraft pull competition during Canada’s Fitweek. Air Canada won the challenge by towing an empty stretch DC-8 weighing approximately 150,000 lbs, an impressive 1,280 feet. Worldways only managed a mere 500 feet. Congratulations to the Toronto team and a tip of the hat to organizers Jean-Yves Neault and Sylvie Atterbury.


Submitted by Allan Gray - Campbell River, B.C. (YBL) In the 1976 Air Canada calendar it looks like they had plans for outer space.

The Greatest Fire Extinguisher Ever Invented

Our video is posted by the Discover Montréal YouTube channel showing the deployment of the Canadair CL-415 'Super Scooper' during the recent Los Angeles wildfires.

Los Angeles has contracted these aircraft from Québec for 30 years.

Click the image to view the video. See Wayne's Wings for more info.

We have welcomed .... new subscribers so far in 2025.

We wish to thank everyone for the continuing support of our efforts.

Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.

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We always welcome feedback about Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge) from our subscribers who wish to share current events, memories and photographs.

Particularly if you have stories to share from one of the legacy airlines: Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Maritime Central Airways, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Georgian and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

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