Blade Ranger

Blade Ranger is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2014 animated film Planes: Fire & Rescue. He is voiced by Ed Harris.

Official Description
Blade Ranger, a veteran 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.

Physical appearance
Blade is inspired by several helicopters, including the AgustaWestland AW109, AW139 and Bell 429 GlobalRanger. He is painted mainly red, with icy blue eyes, and white on the bottom half of his bodywork, as well as white stripes on his sides and tail fin. The top front of his fuselage is painted black, and he has a couple of black stripes on his bodywork. Along the thin white stripes is the inscription of Piston Peak, while on the black stripes near his roof is the inscription "N626BG". Between his red and white paints is the tail number 301, which is a reference to Hemet-Ryan's helicopter.

In his former career as a TV star in CHoPs, he had white paint in place of his red paint on the middle of his fuselage as well as the black paint on his roof, while the fuselage's top was colored dark blue along with the bottom part excepting his front. His tail number was excluded, and the "Helicopter Patrol" inscription was where the "Piston Peak" inscription would be. He also had the California Helicopter Patrol logo on his sides, and wore a gold and blue helmet that is similar to the helmets worn by the main characters of CHiPs.

Planes: Fire & Rescue
Blade works as the leader of the Piston Peak Air Attack team, aiming to fight fires. He comes across a wildfire that was caused by an unattended campfire, working to drop retardant to put the fire out. Windlifter and Lil' Dipper arrive to drop their own retardant onto different parts of the fire, while the Smokejumpers jump out of Cabbie and dig a fire line. During the work, Blade spots a deer who struggles to get out of the fire, and uses his hoist to carry it to safety. Afterwards, he gets interrupted by Dusty Crophopper flying past, and informs him to get out of the airspace. After the fire had been put out, Blade and the rest of the firefighters return to their base, as Maru cleans some of the retardant off Dusty after he flew through it. Blade is not pleased to meet Dusty, even when hearing that he is a trainee that was radioed by his old friend Mayday from Propwash Junction.

Dipper tries to tell Blade that Dusty raced around the world, to which he asks Dusty if the whole world was on fire. Hearing Dusty decline, Blade orders Maru to rip off Dusty's landing gear and put on a pair of pontoons. Following this, Blade starts to train Dusty. Firstly, he teaches about flying low, using Augerin Canyon as an obstacle course. Dusty's aim is put fly underneath the bridge at the end and pick up water by going up Whitewall Falls. However, Blade notices Dusty slowing down before arriving at the bridge, to which he informs that he would need to go at max speed to avoid being pulled down by the water. Dusty makes an excuse about the bridge being too close to the falls, but Blade tells him not to make excuses. Next, Blade teaches about collecting water from the park's lake, only to see Dusty almost crash into a tree. He then informs later about the different things that can be caused by fire, along with that all aircraft will need to be on the ground before nightfall. Blade then judges Dusty putting out fires on some oil barrels, stating that he is doing it at the wrong time and height. Finally, he again has Dusty trying to pick up water from the waterfall, telling him not to pull power, but Dusty still does as he goes at max speed, which causes Blade to get angered and tell Dusty that he will not be certified as a firefighter if he does not complete the task.

Blade soon gets into an argument with the Piston Peak superintendent Cad Spinner about packing too much campers into the park, especially the Grand Fusel Lodge, following Cad's arrival at the firefighters' base to inform Blade about one of his staff, being Dusty, accidentally soaking a few campers. Cad later leaves, but Blade gets insulted when Cad calls him "Blazin' Blade", saying that he is less famous than Dusty. Blade is later seen watching from a hill that night, after Dusty and the other firefighters secretly watch an episode of the TV show CHoPs, which Dusty is confused about how come Blade is working as a firefighter if he used to be a television star. The team give their answer to Dusty's question, saying that it is classified, and they are not asking for the reason.

The next day, the team gets alerted by Patch, who tells them that several spot fires have been set by a thunderstorm. At first, Blade would not let Dusty help the team to put the fires out, but eventually agrees when Windlifter explains that every plane they have will be needed. When the Smokejumpers get trapped by the fire, Blade orders Dipper to drop some retardant in their spot, but Dusty already comes into the scene and puts the fire out. Although the fires have finally been put out, Blade is not pleased with Dusty's actions, telling him not to plan his certification party yet. Dusty is upset by this, but Dipper tries to cheer him up by saying that it is only Blade's way of saying that he did great work.

The next morning, Patch informs the team that there are two wildfires, which had been caused when some VIPs flying to Cad's lodge went too low over the burnt area and blew embers about. Blade leads the team to the scene, splitting himself and Dusty from Windlifter and Dipper to take on different parts of the fires. To make matters worse, Blade notices that one of them is heading toward the lodge, and radios Maru to contact Cad that the tourists will need to evacuate. However, Cad would not obey the request, wanting to show his lodge to the tourists. With only one other decision, Blade tells Dusty to split load so that they make a secondary line, but is frustrated when seeing Dusty releasing all of his retardant. Dusty decides to reload from the lake, but Blade rejects the decision and orders him to return to the base, as the crosswinds are too strong. However, Dusty does not listen to Blade's order, trying to do what he was trained for, but gets swept through the rapids.

Blade attempts to get Dusty out, but on his second attempt, his hoist gets caught on a log. Struggling to pull it off, Blade tells Dusty to start his engine and go to max torque so that he can take off before coming to a waterfall. Dusty does so, but as he goes to max speed when being ordered to, he still slows down, and falls toward the ground. Before he could crash, Blade grabs Dusty with his hoist, before Dusty lands on the ground unharmed. Before Blade could get an answer from Dusty about why he did not redline, he sees the fire closing in on them, and guides Dusty to an abandoned mine. Dusty refuses to go in, and decides to find his own way out of the fire, saying that he did not want to push his engine while in the rapids. Hearing him mention this, Blade feels angry, and tells Dusty that he does not have what it takes when he does not follow orders. Losing his temper, Dusty decides to give up on becoming a firefighter. Blade then angrily suggests to him to return to racing, to which Dusty finally explains he pulled power and cannot race again due to having a busted gearbox. Understanding this, Blade tells Dusty to not give up, and think about the people he could save from the wildfire. Making his decision, Dusty goes into the mine with Blade, who tries to shield him from the fire's heat. After the fire passes, the two aircraft come out of the mine, beginning to take off. However, with damage from the fire, Blade crashes onto the ground, and Dusty radios Patch to get Windlifter to lift Blade back to the base.

Noticing he is badly damaged, Maru gets to work on fixing Blade, eventually finishing that night, and leaves him in his hangar to rest for a while, with Windlifter put in charge. Maru then explains to Dusty the reason why Blade switched to being a firefighter, which was when his partner Nick Loopin' Lopez from CHoPs was killed while doing a stunt scene that was interrupted by a sudden crosswind. Feeling shamed that he was not able to save Nick, Blade had decided to quit his job of being a TV star, and save lives for real.

Blade manages to heel just in time to come to the scene of an RV couple named Harvey and Winnie trapped on the burning bridge at Whitewall Fires. Using his hoist, he holds them away from the edge of the tilting bridge, while Dusty puts the flames out by going up the falls at max speed and picking up some water. Pleased this time by Dusty, Blade says his CHoPs catchphrase "Good move, partner", only to then see Dusty crash into the forest when his gearbox fails completely. Blade and Windlifter lift him back to the base the next day, where Maru does some work on fixing the damage on Dusty, managing to finish before he wakes up from five days of being unconscious. Dusty is surprised that Maru has also built a new gearbox, and Blade gives him the certification as a firefighter, traveling with the team to Propwash Junction to hear Ryker reopen the town's airport in time for the annual Corn Festival, which Blade and the rest of the team take part in.

Trivia

 * As a tip of the hat to the friends at Cal Fire’s Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base, where the filmmakers did much of their research, Blade’s tail number 301 is the same number as Hemet-Ryan’s helicopter.
 * He is inspired by the AgustaWestland AW109, AW139 and Bell 429 GlobalRanger.
 * His eyes were originally brown, but animators changed to them to icy blue when his actor Ed Harris joined the cast.  However, his LEGO Duplo shows him with brown eyes.
 * Blade's plan of him and Dusty sheltering in the abandoned mine is a reference to when Ed Pulaski, who the character Pulaski is named after, saved most of his crew during the Great Fire of 1910 by sheltering in an abandoned mine.