BE 200
BE 200
Multipurpose Amphibious Aircraft
A New Aerial Firefighting Concept – Available for Demonstrations in 2002
The Be-200 Fire-Fighting Amphibious Aircraft
The main purpose of the Be-200 fire-fighting configuration is extinguishing of fires in locations, which are difficult to access by conventional land-based equipment, mostly forest fires. Fire fighting is carried out by means of multiple water drops on a fire site.
For this purpose fire-fighting variant of the aircraft is equipped with eight water tanks located in the bottom part of the aircraft hull under the cabin floor. In order to achieve the greatest effect of aerial fire fighting it is necessary to load on board at least 10-11 tons of water. The Be-200 amphibious aircraft fire-fighting configuration takes on board up to 12 tons of water. Water can be loaded on an airfield as well as scooped on gliding over the water surface within 14 sec. The maximum effect is achieved when there is a possibility of water intake in the nearest lake (river, sea) and jettison water on a frequent turnaround basis.
To increase fire-fighting effectiveness fire-retarding chemicals can be added to water using centrifugal pump. Six tanks for liquid chemical substances of the total volume of 1.2m3 are installed on the board.
Water and chemicals can be dropped in bulk or the sequence of tank doors opening can be chosen to change the volume of water dropped, depending on fire characteristics (fire concentration, area). In addition due to its high cruise speed the Be-200 has the highest dropping frequency capability per hour (tons of water per hour). At the distance “airfield-fire” 100 km and “fire-water source” 10 km the Be-200 is able to deliver up to 270 t of water on a fire site. High climb rate is a great advantage when fire-fighting mission is to be completed in a limited operational area (mountainous areas) and for water intake/drop with obstacles (trees, hills).
Be-200 Fire-Fighting Amphibious Aircraft
Specifications of the firefighting version
Dimensions
Wing Span: 32.78 m
Overall Length: 32.05 m
Overall Height: 8.90 m
Weights
Maximum take-off Weight: 37.2 t
Weight of water scooped on gliding: 6-12 t
Maximum afterscoping weight: 43 t
Weight of water dropped per fuelling: up to 270 t
Performance
Cruise speed
Maximum: 710 km/h
Economy: 600 km/h
Operational ceiling: 8000 m
Max range (one hour fuel reserve): 3600 km
Take-off distance up to H=15m (ISA, sea level)
Land: 700 m
Water: 1000 n
Landing distance from H=15m (ISA, sea level)
Land: 950 m
Water: 1300 m
Water tanks: 12 m3
Chemical liquid tanks: 1.2 m3 1.2
Scooping speed: 160-190 km/h
Scooping time: 14 sec
Minimum water drop speed: 220 km/h
Seaworthiness: 3 points
Wave height: up to 1.2 m
Crew: 2
Contact:
BETA-AIR Establishment:
BETA AIR Joint -Stock Company
16, Shmidta Street
Taganrog 347922 Russia
Tel: 7-8634-310712
Fax: 7-8634-310711
E-mail: be200@beta-air.com
www.beta-air.com
International Liaison Group:
ALR, Aerospace Project Development Group
Gotthardstr. 52
CH-8002 Zurich / Switzerland
E-mail: GeorgesBridel@aol.com or Hagena-Bonn@t-online.de
Further Enquiries:
Global Fire Monitoring Center
E-mail: fire@fire.uni-freiburg.de
