page_title: British Aerospace 146
section_title: Firefighting air tanker conversions
hierarchical_section_title: British Aerospace 146 / Variants / Firefighting air tanker conversions
caption_attribution_description: English: Per Kern County Fire Department #RangeFire [update] 6 miles east of Arvin (KernCo) now 450 acres. Precautionary evacs in progress. BAe-146 aircraft, operated by Neptune Aviation.
context_page_description: The British Aerospace 146 is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2002. Manufacture of an improved version known as the Avro RJ began in 1992. A further-improved version with new engines, the Avro RJX, was announced in 1997, but only two prototypes and one production aircraft were built before production ceased in 2001. With 387 aircraft produced, the Avro RJ/BAe 146 is the most successful British civil jet airliner programme.
  The BAe 146/Avro RJ is a high-wing cantilever monoplane with a T-tail. It has four turbofan engines mounted on pylons underneath the wings, and has retractable tricycle landing gear. The aircraft has very quiet operation, and has been marketed under the name Whisperjet. It sees wide usage at small, city-based airports such as London City Airport. In its primary role, it serves as a regional jet, short-haul airliner, or regional airliner, while examples of the type are also in use as private jets. The BAe 146/Avro RJ is in wide use with several European-based carriers such as CityJet.
context_section_description: Firefighting air tanker versions of both the BAe 146 and the Avro RJ85 have been manufactured by the conversion of aircraft previously operated by airlines in scheduled passenger service. Several organizations carry out such conversions, including U.S.-based Minden Air Corporation, Neptune Aviation Services, and Aero-Flite, a U.S. subsidiary of Canadian-based Conair Group. In January 2012, Conair Group announced its arrangements to market and promote the Avro RJ85 as a major air tanker platform. In October 2012, Air Spray Aviation of Alberta, Canada, purchased its first BAe 146 for conversion into an air tanker. Air Spray purchased a second airframe for conversion in October 2013.
  According to the 3 April 2017, edition of SpeedNews-The Windshield, an on-line aviation publication, 14 BAE Systems-built BAe 146-200 and Avro RJ85 jets are in service in North America as aerial firefighting air tankers, with Conair flying seven Avro RJ85 aircraft and Neptune Aviation operating seven BAe 146-200 aircraft. The article also states that Conair is converting an eighth Avro RJ85 for use as an air tanker, while Neptune is converting two more BAe 146-200s for aerial firefighting use.  In addition, Air Spray is mentioned in this article as having acquired five BAe 146-200s for conversion to air tankers.
caption: BAe 146 air tanker at Range Fire in Kern County, California, 2016
exif: {}