A CL-145 Super Scooper lifting off a New Mexico lake with almost no room to spare is one of the most nail biting aviation moments ever
Published on Apr 15, 2026 at 12:17 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Apr 15, 2026 at 12:17 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
This Canadair CL-415 Super Scooper was spotted lifting off in New Mexico just inches away from the lake beach after scooping water on board until the last second.
The maneuver was spectacular and effective.
Clearly, the pilot is an ace, but it tells us more about the aircraft as well.
Because in terms of market share, the CL-415 is unrivaled – and not just in aviation.
These planes are so iconic that they’re in a class of their own
If you ask people in European countries what they call a ‘firefighting aircraft’, they’ll probably tell you they call it a ‘canader’, which is basically Canadair, but misspelled and turned into a common noun.
Like Q-Tip or Xerox, or even when people say they’re ‘going to Google something’ or do the Hoovering. Those brand names have become synonymous with their products.
And where firefighting aircraft are concerned, and kudos to them, most amphibious scoopers in the world are built by Canadair.
Specifically, they’re usually talking about the Canadair CL-415, which is what this is.
Numbers don’t lie.
There are around 150-180 Canadair-type amphibious scoopers in service in the world, and the vast majority of those are the CL-415 or its predecessor, the CL-215.
For reference, Canadair built 95 CL-415s and 125 CL-215s.
The expression ‘market dominance’ doesn’t even begin to cut it.
Built in the 1990s, the CL-415 – known as ‘Super Scooper’ to its friends – is a water bomber which, as you can see from the video below, is phenomenally agile.
Not bad for a plane that weighs around 12 tons when empty, and up to 20 tons with water in it.
This Super Scooper was so close to the beach you could almost touch it
When the CL-415 is scooping water, it doesn’t actually stop.
It skims the surface at about 70 knots – 130km/h – and the force of the water being ‘rammed’ into the scoops is so high that it fills the 6,000-liter reservoir in about 12 seconds.
What’s truly impressive about the video shared to Reddit by ParaMike46 is how the plane stays on the water until the very last second, just inches away from the sand of this beach – probably a reservoir – in New Mexico.
Clearly, the pilot knew what they were doing because the fire was later successfully extinguished.
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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
