Tag: air tanker

The May/June issue of Wildfire magazine that arrived in mailboxes several weeks ago featured a cover photo of Tanker 11 dropping on a fire in Texas last year. This is the same air tanker that crashed on Sunday, killing the two-person crew.

You can’t see the “11” on the tail of the tanker in the photo to the left here, or in the photos at the Wildfire web site, but trust me, I can see it on the cover of the magazine I have in front of me. This was also pointed out in an email sent to all members of the International Association of Wildland Fire in an email today describing the recent magazine issue.

I don’t believe in curses, fate, or jinxes, but this reminds me of the Sports Illustrated “cover jinx”, in which a person who appears on the cover of the magazine is supposed to be jinxed or experience bad luck.

This issue of the magazine features an excellent article by Walt Darran, in which Mr. Darran, who has a great deal of experience in the aviation and air tanker industry, writes about the future of the air tanker program. You should read the article, but here are some of the points he makes.

• In spite of what you may hear from the U.S. Forest Service and the still unreleased RAND Corporation report, we need a mix of various types of air tankers in our tool box, not just C-130Js.
• Having enough air tankers for fast, effective initial attack while fires are small is important. Taking into account the increased fire activity, Mr. Darran says we should have “40 to 50 or more Type 1, 2, and 3 air tankers”.
• The state of California’s air tanker program could be a model, with Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated air tankers working side by side with a fleet of helicopters that are Government-Owned, Government-Operated.
• Since it is unrealistic to expect operators of expensive aircraft to maintain the availability of air tankers and crews on a Call When Needed contract, a retainer should be supplied to cover costs of maintaining the aircraft airworthiness and crew currency so it is available when we need it. “Imagine SEAL Team 6 on a CWN contract” Mr. Darran wrote.

Neptune Aviation has released an official statement about Sunday’s crash of their air tanker:

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Date: June 4, 2012

NEPTUNE AVIATION’S TANKER 11 ACCIDENT IN WESTERN UTAH

Missoula, Montana — On June 3, 2012, Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula, Montana experienced a fatal aircraft accident while performing aerial firefighting activities in western Utah.

Captain Todd Tompkins and First Officer Ron Chambless were flying Tanker 11, a Lockheed P2V-7, when the aircraft made contact with the ground while flying in the active fire drop zone. The aircraft was dispatched from the Cedar City, Utah airtanker base to the White Rock Fire near the Utah-Nevada state line. Neither crewmember survived the accident.

Captain Tompkins had 20 years of aviation experience with 14 years as an airtanker pilot. He faithfully served Neptune Aviation since 2006. First Officer Chambless had 8 years of aviation experience with many years in wildland firefighting. This was his first fire season with Neptune Aviation.

In accordance with company policy, Neptune Aviation implemented a voluntary stand-down of its fleet in order for the Director of Flight Operations and Director of Maintenance to debrief all crewmembers and mechanics before releasing the fleet back to active duty. At the time of this press release, Neptune’s fleet of airtankers has been released back to active duty.

We want to take this opportunity to send our thoughts to Minden Air and the crewmembers of Tanker 55. We are so grateful that those involved did not sustain injuries.

For more information, please contact Mike Pfau. At this time, Neptune Aviation is unable to comment as to any accident specifics. The investigation has been turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board. Neptune continues to work closely with the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of Interior, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and local authorities.

Neptune Aviation Services was incorporated in May 1993 after purchasing the assets of Black Hills Aviation of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Upon acquiring its fleet and personnel, Neptune relocated its main base of operation to Missoula, Montana, substantially increasing in size and capabilities. Currently, Neptune has a mixed fleet of Lockheed P2V and British Aerospace BAe-146 aircraft.

“Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with all the family and friends of those impacted by this event. Todd and Ronnie were truly considered a part of our family and they will be deeply missed.” – Kristen Nicolarsen, CEO of Neptune Aviation.

Today we are still mourning Sunday’s line of duty deaths of two wildfire aviators. The two-person crew of Neptune Aviation’s Tanker 11, pilot Todd Tompkins, 48, and co-pilot Ronnie Edwin Chambless, 40, both of Boise, were killed when their P2V air tanker crashed as it was making a retardant drop on the White Rock fire on the Utah/Nevada state line.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will make their first visit to the accident site Tuesday.

Here is an update on the incident, excerpted from an article by Rob Chaney in the Missoulian. The article has a couple of photos of the accident scene.

Neptune Aviation Tanker 11 was dropping a load of retardant on the leading edge of the White Rock fire in Utah on Sunday afternoon when one wing apparently hit a tree and the Lockheed P2V cartwheeled into the ground.

“From what the investigators could see, the plane began to touch the treetops as it tried to unload its retardant,” Iron County Sheriff’s Detective Jody Edwards said from Cedar City, Utah, where Tanker 11 was based for the fire. “They could see the cone of debris where the slurry came out, see where the wing tip touched and see a number of divots where it broke into several pieces.

“In spite of the efforts of firefighters, the fire passed through the debris field,” Edwards said. “We had 10 members walk the debris field to preserve evidence and recover the bodies. The soles of our shoes were melting. Some of the aluminum from the plane had turned molten, and ran down the hillside.”

Neptune Aviation crews on wildfires around the country stood down to mourn on Sunday. They resumed work on Monday.

The White Rock fire had grown from 15 acres to 5,000 between its lightning start on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. By Monday, it was up to 8,000 acres.

Tompkins had been flying for 20 years, including 14 years as an air tanker pilot. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

Chambless was a wildland firefighter and had been with Neptune for one year. He had eight years of aviation experience.

The stand-down was for personal reasons and not an aircraft safety factor, according to Don Smurthwaite at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigative crew was on its way to the crash site west of Cedar City, Utah, on Monday. Two single-engine air tankers resumed retardant drops on the White Rock fire as well…

The AP quoted Tom Harbour, the USFS’ National Director of Fire and Aviation Management, about the deteriorating fleet of air tankers:

…”They are aging, and we know we need to replace them,” said Tom Harbour, the U.S. Forest Service’s fire and aviation operations director. “That’s why the chief (of the Forest Service) sent Congress an air tanker strategy a couple months ago that said we needed to modernize the fleet.”

Harbour said the agency has concluded that the nation needs up to 28 of the next generation of air tankers, those that can fly faster and carry more retardant. Overall, the Forest Service budgets $70 million a year on firefighting aircraft out of $2 billion overall fighting wildfires. Bids are being evaluated on the next generation planes, but the service currently pays $10,000 a day and $6,000 per hour of flight time for exclusive-use contracts.

However, replacing the aging fleet will not happen quickly, Harbour added. A contract for three of them will be awarded later this month, and four more will be added next year, he said.

A review of firefighting plane crashes over the last two decades found that various models of the P2V aircraft had been involved in at least seven fatal crashes while fighting wildfires, including the one that crashed on Sunday.