Blade Ranger is the deuteragonist of Planes: Fire & Rescue. He is a Fire-and-Rescue helicopter who serves as the leader of the Piston Peak Air Attack team.
His model design seems to be a mix of AgustaWestland AW109, AgustaWestland AW139, and Bell 429 GlobalRanger. These helicopter models are used in many countries as rescue or military multi-purpose utility helicopters. It mainly performs disaster relief and search and rescue tasks at medium and low altitudes.
History[]
Blade Ranger, a fire-and-rescue helicopter, heads up the Piston Peak Air Attack team. Haunted by a storied past, he’s a tough and demanding air boss with a wry sense of humor, and he’s not exactly enthusiastic about his new trainee Dusty. But Blade is a pro and does everything he can to bring the new SEAT up to speed.
As partly explained by Maru (and known by all members of his current team), Blade was a former actor for the television show CHoPs alongside his best friend, Nick "Loopin'" Lopez (both being police helicopters), until Nick was unexpectedly killed in a stunt accident during the filming of the show's 140th episode, which Blade could do nothing to save. Traumatized by this loss, he left, causing the show to be cancelled, and started working for the Piston Peak Air Attack team, an organization he now leads, as a fire chief, so that he can be a rescue service member for real. Blade at first doesn't like Dusty Crophopper since he is not meant to be a firefighter and only sent there for certification. During the scooping of water for retardant, Dusty ignores Blade's warning about flying too low resulting in them both being swept down a river, off a waterfall, and being trapped inside a mine to escape the worsening fire. Blade's engine is severely damaged by the heat, and is grounded for repairs while Windlifter assumes command during his absence. However, when the fire traps Harvey and Winnie at Augerin' Canyon's burning bridge, Dusty and the smokejumpers have their water supply cut off and simply have to use the remaining water for retardant, which is not enough to put out the fire Blade recovers just in time to save the two RVs while Dusty's gearbox fails completely and he crashes in the woods and is airlifted to the base. After Dusty is fixed, Blade and the smokejumpers all head to Propwash Junction to celebrate Dusty's bravery.
Livery[]
Blade Ranger is painted mostly red and white, with black detailing. Similar to Lil' Dipper, Windlifter, and Cabbie, he sports the Piston Peak Air Attack logo on the right side of his fuselage and have his nose cowling painted black. Blade also shares the visual motifs of three white stripes (on his tail fin) and chevron patterns (on the base of his tail boom) with his fellow firefighting aircraft. "Piston Peak" is painted across his tail boom, and his call sign number 301 is painted on the sides of his fuselage. He has a small tank installed on his undercarriage to store fire retardant.
Appearances[]
Feature Films[]
Merchandising[]
- 1:55 Scale Diecast (Oversized)
Bio[]
Meet the Planes[]
- Blade is the leader of the Piston Peak Air Attack team. A veteran fire-and-rescue helicopter, he is an all-purpose aircraft equipped with a drop tank and hoist. Flying at 120 knots under a maximum cruising altitude of 13,500 feet, Blade is a tough and demanding air boss with a wry sense of humor. Earlier in his life, he was known as "Blazin' Blade" and played a rescue chopper on the hit TV show CHoPs (California Helicopter Patrol). After the tragic loss of his on-screen partner, Blade struggled with his purpose in life; however, he soon got a second chance when he trained to become a real fire-and-rescue helicopter. Now, instead o pretending to save lives, Blade saves 'em for real.
Gallery[]
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Names in other languages[]
- Japanese: ブレード
- Czech: Břitva
- Russian: Рейнджер Винт
Trivia[]
- Save for himself and most of his crew, the only other character that knows Blade's history is Cad Spinner.