Documentation of another air tanker encountering debris over a wildfire

air tanker hit by falling debris over Washburn Fire
Result of a BAe-146 air tanker being hit by falling debris over the Washburn Fire, July 8, 2022. SAEFCOM photo.

The day before a lead plane and a large air tanker had a close call with falling debris while on a retardant dropping sortie on the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park, another air tanker, a BAe-146, was actually hit while working the same fire by an object large enough to leave a dent and a large mark on top of the cockpit.

As we wrote in an earlier article, previously on July 9 a lead plane was leading Tanker 103, an MD-87, over a target when they saw a falling tree branch above the lead plane. It fell between the two aircraft, in front of the tanker. No harm done — that time.

Here is the text from a SAFECOM about an incident the previous day, July 8, 2022.

“Tanker XX was on day two of extended fire attack for the Washburn Fire. During the eighth trip to the fire we were cleared into the incident by Bravo X-X. We joined the orbit with two other DC10s. Tanker XX joined up with B X-X to drop in the area of the right shoulder with a start point on top of a ridge and then carry the load downslope. Seconds after the drop was completed both flight crew members heard an extremely loud noise that sounded like something struck the top of the aircraft. I informed B X-X of what occurred and he offered his assistance. I said we had no abnormalities but will need an inspection up return to Fresno and maybe delayed returning to the Fire.

“Upon arriving Fresno Air Attack base I informed the base that we would be delayed for an inspection of the Aircraft and was directed to the maintenance pit. Crew Chief for Tanker XX was informed of the events and obtained a lift to inspect the top portion of the Aircraft. Evidence of fire debris was observed on top of the cockpit with dent. The dent was observed and documented. The dent was within allowable limits and documented for future inspections. The maintenance crew spent extensive time inspecting the entire aircraft including the horizontal stabilizer. Fire debris was observed on top of the left horizontal stabilizer but no resulting dents were observed. After detailed visual inspections and documentation the aircraft was returned to service. Aviation Safety Comments: While Foreign Object Debris (FOD) coming from above airtankers is rare this same situation occurred the next day as well. In this subsequent event the Lead Plane prudently made note that if this condition persisted that air ops in that area would have to be halted. This is a good example of constant reassessing of risk/reward, and use of previous close-calls in making safe fireground decisions.”

This information clarifies a few words that were unintelligible in the radio conversation about the other incident on July 9 when they were referring to something that happened the day before. Here is a transcript from that conversation:

LEAD PLANE: Hey I just want to let you know that a branch went right over the top of us, pretty good size, probably 50 feet above us coming down and fell right in between Tanker 103 and myself.

AIR ATTACK: OK. Copy. So it’s repeat of yesterday’s (unintelligible) 

LEAD PLANE: That’s exactly what I’m getting at. So if we keep seeing that we might have to knock it off. I don’t want to take a chance on busting a window in an airplane or hurting an aircraft for this. 

AIR ATTACK: Absolutely. Keep me updated on this.

As I wrote in the other article, firefighting aircraft striking debris over fires is not unheard of. Here’s part of an article I wrote for Wildfire Today in 2018:

During the large vegetation fires in southern California in 2003 some of the convection columns were so powerful that the windshields on six air tankers were cracked by chunks of debris that were being hurled into the air (page D-6 in 2003 California Governor’s Blue Ribbon Report; huge 20 Mb file). One pilot saw a four by eight sheet of plywood sail past at 1,500 feet.

New livery on T-01
New livery on T-01, a BAe-146, December 18, 2020. Neptune photo.

The Washburn Fire in California’s Yosemite National Park has burned more than 3,500 acres.

Lead plane and air tanker avoid falling tree branch

Ensalados Fire Vandenberg Air Force Base
File photo of Tanker 103, July 9, 2017. Photo by Vandenberg Fire Department.

This article was first published at Fire Aviation

Yesterday July 9 a lead plane and a large air tanker had a close call while on a retardant dropping sortie on the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park.

There was virtually no wind over the fire most of the day and the area was smoked in causing very poor visibility making it impossible for air tankers to drop on the fire. But by 6 p.m. conditions had improved and at about 6:10 p.m. a lead plane was leading Tanker 103, an MD-87, over a target when they saw a falling tree branch above the lead plane. It fell between the two aircraft, in front of the tanker.

Twitter user Robert, @Rob_on_sisukas, captured an audio recording of the radio conversation. We’re not sure who the lead plane pilot was talking to, but we’ll call it “dispatcher” for now:

LEAD PLANE: Hey I just want to let you know that a branch went right over the top of us, pretty good size, probably 50 feet above us coming down and fell right in between Tanker 103 and myself.

DISPATCHER: OK. Copy. So it’s repeat of yesterday’s (unintelligible) 

LEAD PLANE: That’s exactly what I’m getting at. So if we keep seeing that we might have to knock it off. I don’t want to take a chance on busting a window in an airplane or hurting an aircraft for this. 

DISPATCHER: Absolutely. Keep me updated on this.

When a fire is burning intensely in an unstable atmosphere the convection in the rising smoke column can be powered by a tremendous amount of energy. As air at ground level rushes in to take the place of the rising column, the developing horizontal wind and the fresh oxygen feed the fire, causing an even higher level of intensity. The horizontal and then vertical movement of air can sometimes transport unexpectedly large objects up into the sky. Large columns may rotate as they rise and in extreme cases can actually become a fire tornado. You don’t want to be nearby when that happens. Fire tornados are not to be confused with small dust devils or fire whirls.

What is surprising about the incident yesterday is that the fire was smoked in most of the day, and tankers could not fly until about 6 p.m. I looked at various AlertWildfire cameras a few times and did not see any smoke columns. Maybe the cameras I saw were not able to see all of the fire, but I remember that late in the afternoon fire activity increased at the Sierra Fire Watch camera below, and columns may have developed.

Washburn Fire at 5:24 p.m. July 9, 2022
Washburn Fire at 5:24 p.m. July 9, 2022. Sierra Fire Watch image.

Firefighting aircraft being damaged by debris being lofted into the air over a fire is not unheard of. Here’s part of an article I wrote for Wildfire Today in 2018:

During the large vegetation fires in southern California in 2003 some of the convection columns were so powerful that the windshields on six air tankers were cracked by chunks of debris that were being hurled into the air (page D-6 in 2003 California Governor’s Blue Ribbon Report; huge 20 Mb file). One pilot saw a four by eight sheet of plywood sail past at 1,500 feet.

As of late morning today, July 10, the Washburn Fire has burned about 1,800 acres in Yosemite National Park. About 300 of those acres are in the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees, some of them 3,000 years old.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Kelly.

Backing away from a grass fire

Nebraska State Trooper's dash cam fire
Screengrab from Nebraska State Trooper’s dash cam, March 4, 2021

On March 4 the dash cam in a Nebraska State Trooper’s vehicle recorded  some interesting footage from the shoulder of Interstate 80 near Gothenburg as a wildfire approached.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bob.

More details possibly emerge about air tanker’s hazardous exit out of drop area

BAe-146 air tanker hazardous retardant drop near miss
Screenshot from the video below of BAe-146 air tanker.

We posted a video on August 14 of a BAe-146 air tanker dropping retardant on a fire. While exiting the area the aircraft flew closely over a ridge stirring up dust on the ground. It generated many comments, with one person writing “it doesn’t appear to be a problem” while others considered it a good cautionary learning opportunity.

Yesterday one of our readers sent us information about a Safecom that may or may not be related to this incident. The report was filed August 1, 2019 by the crew of a BAe-146 about an incident that occurred July 1, 2019.

Here is the complete narrative:

While conducting retardant operations I descended below a ridge crossing altitude. This was NOT on purpose. I tunnel visioned the drop, and continued down. This was a little fill in spot and I was really focused on finishing the line. As I stated, this was NOT on purpose. We{crew} debriefed and talked about what happened, and of course, how to prevent this type of screw up. Thanks

The “Corrective Action” was presumably written later by someone in aviation management:

Crew will review SOP`s, CRM, etc. RASM: Glad to see the crew realized and admitted what occurred. Hope to see others follow suit as narratives like this remind us all to be diligent.

Cutting it close on a fire retardant drop

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Ryan. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

Multiple failures of electrical systems forces emergency landing of air attack aircraft

On July 26 the pilot and the Air Tactical Group Supervisor had a close call in an exclusive use Aero Commander 690 while flying a fire in Idaho. Thanks to their close coordination and crew resource management they landed safely at the Rexburg, Idaho airport.

Below is part of the report that was filed:

On Thursday July 26th while flying on the Grassy Ridge Fire, Air Attack XXXX experienced an in-flight emergency requiring an immediate landing at Rexburg {RXE} Airport which was approximately 4 minutes flight time from the fire. The nature of the in-flight emergency was that the ATGS and Pilot started smelling the odor produced from burning wire.

The ATGS immediately turned off the AC unit, as it had a breaker trip 2 days earlier and first thought was that maybe that could be the problem. However within a minute the Door Indicator Light came on, the Pilot went to reset the switch and it immediately popped off again. Then the Pilots radio and intercom went out.

The decision was made to head to the nearest airport which was identified as Rexburg showing 4 minutes on the GPS. The GPS turned off and then came back on. The Pilot and ATGS went through the Electrical Emergency Procedures Check List and set up for a straight in landing on Runway 17 {RXE}. The ATGS notified Dispatch and the IC of the emergency situation in route to the airport. The ATGS due to the Pilots radio being out made the calls on 122.8 of the approach and landing.

Upon landing more things started to fail, the right “Gen Out“ light went on and a couple circuit breakers popped out. Once the plane landed the gear down warning started to sound. The aircraft was taxied to parking and the Pilot went through the shut down procedures, however the engines would not shut down. The ATGS held in the door activation switch and the pilot reset a couple of the breakers and the engines shut down.

The pilot and ATGS did a quick survey of the aircraft to insure there was no fire and no smoke was visible, just the strong odor of the burning wire. With all power turned off the aircraft was monitored while the Pilot and ATGS made calls to Dispatch and company owner and mechanic.

The Owner and Head of Maintenance arrived in Rexburg about 1830 and began to do an inspection. The initial finding was that the Pulse Light on the right wing tip had caused the control switch to “melt“. For some reason a breaker or fuse did not trip and it cause the wiring to start to melt. This caused other wires to also “fry“ which was the cause of the loss of the pilot radio and other items turning off and circuits to pop. The company is starting the process of going through the wiring trunk and repair the damage caused by the incident.

Dozer rollover on the Trailhead Fire

Dozer rollover fire

Above: Dozer rollover at the Trailhead Fire on the Eldorado National Forest in California July 2, 2016. Photo from the report.

A report has been released by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center about a dozer rollover that occurred July 2, 2016 at the Trailhead Fire on the Eldorado National Forest in California. You can read the entire report, but here’s a brief summary.

After getting unstuck from being high centered on a large stump, a dozer operator found himself off the ridge where he was building an indirect fireline, and was on a steep slope. Again he got stuck and was not able to backup, this time due to the slope which in places exceeded an 80 percent incline. At various times he was advised by two Resource Advisors, the Structure Group Supervisor, and the owner of the dozer to stay put. In the meantime another dozer with a winch was en route to assist.

Ignoring the advice, the operator continued down the slope and got into a heated argument with the owner, who then left the area. Determined to get the dozer back up to the ridge top, the operator began building a road and creating pads where he could work to push over trees that were in his way, including a 30-DBH cedar which missed by 50 feet the two Resources Advisors who had to run to get out of the way.

The incident-within-an-incident finally came to an end, at least temporarily, when the dozer rolled over onto its side. The operator escaped with only a scratch, after which the dozer continued to roll over onto its top in the creek bottom.

The report did not include information about how the dozer was eventually extracted, or what repercussions, if any, befell the operator and the contractor.