Anywhere, Anytime
Year-round aerial firefighting response supporting wildland firefighters across the United States.
Response for Every Mission
We lease our own fleet of 15+ aircraft on long-term, multi-year agreements to government agencies. These leases include the aircraft itself, skilled firefighting pilots, and experienced aircraft maintenance engineers who travel with mobile support trailers to ensure the aircraft is prepared for daily operations.
Aero-Flite is also the sole distributor in the US of the Dash 8-400AT airtanker and its multi-role variant, the Dash 8-400MRE. We sell the specialized platform to government agencies across the country, offering training, parts inventory, and engineering support for aftermarket technical and operational guidance, and assisting with repairs.
A Full Span of Aircraft Solutions
Airtankers drop retardant around the perimeter of a fire to slow flames, coating the fuel and remaining effective long after its water has evaporated. Amphibious aircraft drop water directly on the fire to cool its heat, remaining effective only until it has evaporated. Retardant and water work together on extreme wildfires, giving firefighters on the ground time to dig containment lines. Air Attack aircraft fly continuously over the wildfire, providing supervision and direction.
Airtankers
Land-based airtankers drop retardant around the perimeter of a wildfire, reloading from nearby tanker bases at airfields.
Water Scoopers
Amphibious aircraft reload by skimming water sources, responding on a continuous circuit for hours, often flying in formation, working in groups.
Multi Role Aircraft
Multi role emergency response aircraft convert between roles within hours - fighting wildfires, transporting crews, evacuating citizens, shipping cargo, medevacing critically ill patients.
Aircraft Maintenance
We offer over 6 decades of experience maintaining firefighting aircraft, ensuring our aircraft are ready to respond to thousands of missions.
Aero-Flite is fully licensed and approved by the FAA and Transport Canada, through its endorsed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) certification, to provide domestic and international commercial operations and maintenance for amphibious and land-based airtankers.
Our maintenance solutions are supported in-house by over 65 component overhaul specialists, maintenance and material planners, engineers, avionics experts, quality assurance professionals, parts purchasers, paint specialists, shipping personnel, and support staff.
Aerial Firefighter Pilot Training
Our pilots undergo comprehensive training each year, including type training, ground school, in-flight sessions, and simulator sessions. We have exclusive access to Conair’s Training + Tactic Center, where we train pilots on specialized aerial firefighting simulators:
Level D Avro RJ85 Full Motion Simulator, a full-motion Level D simulator with aerial fire-specific graphics, including smoke, fire, and retardant lines.
Mission Training System, the only simulator platform in the world of its kind, features six flight training devices integrated so pilots can see and hear each other, operating together over the same simulated wildfire, with fire behavior accurately reacting to humidity, terrain, wind, fuel type, and temperature to produce a true-to-life representation of the wildfire environment.
Aerospace Engineering
In addition to our operating and maintenance capabilities, Aero-Flite offers the unique capacity to provide in-house, through Conair’s engineering team, the ability to design, engineer, repair, and certify modifications, ensuring support for continued operations and airworthiness.
Our capabilities include:
- Designing, building, and certifying aeronautical products in-house.
- Issuing temporary approvals to avoid lengthy delays.
- Conducting field repairs or modifications as needed.
- Making changes to aircraft, equipment, and systems that are tailored to client needs while mitigating risk.