Sask. NDP Say New Water Bomber Grounded Due to Lack of Pilots, Province Says Training to Resume in July

Sask. NDP raise concerns over lack of pilots trained to fly new water bomber

The Saskatchewan NDP says no pilots have been trained to fly the recently purchased Conair Dash 8-Q400AT Airtanker.

NDP blast Sask Party for grounding new water bomber during wildfires

Opposition Public Safety critic Nicole Sarauer raised questions about why newly-purchased Dash-8- Q400AT “secretly sat idle on the tarmac.”

Union Says Firefighting Pilots Fleeing Poor Wages

Part of the fleet of firefighting aircraft in the Canadian province of Ontario has been grounded by a pilot shortage brought on by low wages. JP Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says the aerial firefighting force is short five pilots and that’s resulted in the grounding of three of the province’s 11 CL-415 water bombers. JP Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union said the pilots left Ontar…

New water bomber hasn’t flown since arriving in Saskatchewan

The water bomber purchased by the provincial government arrived in La Ronge on May 30. Since its arrival, the plane hasn’t been used in any wildfire response because of unfinished training.

NDP questions grounded bomber in La Ronge; wildfire damage assessments continue

More good news on the wildfire front in Saskatchewan thanks to rain, precipitation and cooler weather.The Sask...

UPDATE: NDP and Saskatchewan government spar over grounded waterbomber

Update: Updated with statement from the government. ……………. On Monday morning, the Opposition NDP put out a media release claiming the Saskatchewan government didn’t use a waterbomber available to them to battle the wildfire near La Ronge. The NDP says one of four repurposed airtanker, aircraft purchased by the government last year, had arrived in northern community at the end of May. The government had purchased four of these re-purposed land-ba…