Hello Simflyers !
when in free flight, the CL 415, normally after the scooping of water, show malfunction alert for engines. In detail, the airplane with almost full load of water is very recalcitrant to take off from water, even if engines are at full power. I need a loooong run on water and, even if I try to put the throttle in “unstressed” mode as soon as possible, after a while one of the engine start to have problem, up to the loss of power. I’ve tried to watch videos on youtube but there, everything seems to be fine (I think is in FS2020). Does anyone has/had the same problem?
Thank you in advance for your help!
all the best!
4 Likes
same here too… of course the aircraft ist way heavier after scooping, but still, the effort it takes to get it back into the air seems a bit excessive… seen cl-415 scooping water in real life and of course, the didn’t soar into the sky after scooping like a rocket, but they didn’t struggle anywhere as hard as it does in the sim…
1 Like
I am having the same issues, but no one seems to have a fix
3 Likes
Hey, you need to maintain TRQ in green zone never enter in yellow or Red Zone.
1 Like
Are you able to take-off from the water with everything in the green?
If so, then it sounds like I just need to git gud, but the aircraft definitely doesn’t appear to want to take off when its water tanks are full.
Also, when you are taking off, could you please tell me what are your flap settings and prop settings?
2 Likes
“Yes, it is entirely possible to never leave the green zone, but it requires a lot of precision and training. Step number 1: Touch the water between 85 knots and 100 knots with 2 flaps down. Step number 2: Once fully loaded with water, climb gently by pulling the stick at a speed of around 90 knots. Step number 3: After gaining some altitude, retract one flap to reach 105 to 110 knots. Step number 4: Retract the remaining flap. Carefully monitor engine power throughout. A demonstration is available in this YouTube video, sorry it’s in French.”
Search in youtube : [MSFS 2024 Canadair - Carrière Feu de forêt - CL 415]
4 Likes
I was able to do this:
- Land with 2 flaps
- retract flaps while filling tanks. this will help you gain speed.
- when tanks full, power up into borderline yellow
- at 75 knots put 1 or 2 flap down to get off water
- retract flaps as you lift away to get more speed.
6 Likes
The cl415 cannot take off with a full tank of water with bomb ready fuel (8000) pds. Unlike the cl215T which has smaller tanks and can fill to spill each time.
2 Likes
That’s great thanks.
So you leave the prop levers all the way forward, during the whole landing, scooping and taking-off process?
Edit:
By the way, I might need to be submitting a bug report for the part of the Amazon I was scooping from, as it had gullies around the banks and highly unrealistic relief on the surface of the water, in the form of ridges.
Edit2: It was the Orinoco River, not the Amazon, that appears to be defying the laws of physics.
Hello friends!
Thank you so much for sharing with me your experiences, avoiding me more frustrating take off from water! I’ll try as soon as the VR performance of FS2024 come again to acceptable levels (after the last update fsp are like my cl 415, unable to takeoff 
). I will keep your precious suggestions (video included, I live in France 
even if from Italy) for the future! If you want, try to take off from this lake (37°58’22"N 13°18’00"E) . I’ve try several times there ( in summer, during fire I saw a lot of Canadair taking water from this lake…without any problem!!
. By the way, you can start from the Boccadifalco airport (LICP). Let me know!
All the best for the incoming Christmas and 2025! Ciao!
1 Like
Yes and no… If it were that simple. One notch for an empty takeoff, two notches for a full takeoff. But the CL 415 is an aircraft that you experience and feel, nothing is written. However, you shouldn’t be afraid to use two notches of flaps for scooping or dropping. It’s a simple, unadorned aircraft that you fly with your guts… Hope this helps.
1 Like
Second life is me, so my channel. Don’t hesitate if needed, we have a Discord that you can find in the video descriptions. I’ll take note of the challenge and make a video about it 
Happy holidays to you all as well.
"I don’t understand why they scooped there, the sea is closer, but I’ll do it anyway. The topographic data shows that it’s doable… We’ll see in the game.
Where is the fire approximately? That would help me
Pleased to have you here! And it could be fantastic to see one video about this challenge 
! About the fire, you can hypothesize its location here 37°57’32"N 13°22’56"E or, better in a large forest here 37°53’01"N 13°23’59"E. The last one is now a natural protected park, historically used by the king of the two Sicily Ferdinand III around the 1800’s for summer holidays and for hunting.
I don’t know if currently it is possible to create specific missions in which one can put fire in specific places… Could you imagine a multiplayer mission with 3 or 4 Canadair fighting the same fire??
About why they used this lake for scooping water, I don’t know…probably this artificial lake ( there is a hydroelectric central and a barrage ) is the closest to the woody area I mentioned …
Thank you for take the time to answer my questions!
Bonne soirée !
I think I’ll try out your suggestions in free flight and see how it goes.
At least you’ve given me the setups and I’ll just need to get the technique right. I suspect it’s going to be an interesting challenge. 
2 Likes
By George, I think I’ve got it.
It does seem to be an aircraft that likes to stall, but I did finally manage to master getting it off the water’s surface and, apparently even more challenging, to get it to climb higher thereafter.
There are still some wrinkles in my technique, it would appear, especially as not all scoop sites will have a massive amount of room around them to be skimming the surface, trying to build up speed, but it’s progress thanks.
I wonder if career mode would let me just pick up half a tank of water, instead of filling it up completely? That’d perhaps be out of character for it though.
2 Likes
I carnt even get them to turn over on starter.
Alternatively, I found that working the AoA instead of speed helps me keep the aircraft in a good attitude during scoping. I had a lot of bouncing and I am now able to scoop in one go, so at least in my case it helped. What I do is basically:
- Get to about 100 feet RA above the water, speed between 100-130knots.
- Flaps down 2 notches
- Pull up the stick until the AoA needle reaches the white area (also the AoA gauge is closer to the windshield, I find it easier to follow than the anemometer), while decreasing power to prevent the aircraft from climbing.
- Manage altitude with the throttle, AoA with the stick
- Let the aircraft gently touch the water, at this point it will “want” to slow down, gently increase power to keep AoA in the white area
- Once scooping is complete, set max power / RPM (just below the yellow area) and give a slight tap back on the stick to get out of the water. Then I do my best to manage the climb on flaps 2 and then 1, but as others said, it’s really hard with a full tank not to blow up an engine doing so.
3 Likes
I will try!