3 killed in air tanker crash near Stead

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Writer

RENO — An air tanker hoping to drop retardant on a wildfire in the Sierra Nevada crashed on takeoff near Reno on Monday, killing all three crew members on board.

The twin-engine P2V air tanker owned by Neptune Aviation of Missoula, Mont., had been fighting a wildfire earlier in the day that had forced evacuations over the weekend in California’s Alpine County near Hope Valley south of Lake Tahoe, Reno fire spokesman Steve Frady said Monday night.

Names of the three confirmed dead in the crash had not been released, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Preliminary reports from witnesses suggested the tanker lost a piece of its engine or a wing after its 6:11 p.m. takeoff from Reno-Stead Airport before it caught fire and went down about a half-mile away, he said.

It marked at least the third time a P2V owned by Neptune suffered a fatal crash while fighting wildfires on government contract over the past 15 years. Two men were killed when one crashed near Missoula in 1994 and two other men died in a crash near Reserve, N.M., in 1998.

Officials for Neptune did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Monday night.

Investigators for the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were on their way to the scene, officials said.

The crash just north of Reno started a small brush fire that local crews extinguished, Frady said. He said the debris field from the crash covered approximately 5 square miles northwest of the airport northeast of U.S. Highway 395.

“It was full of fuel and retardant and had been on the Hope Valley fire and apparently was headed back to make one last drop,” Frady told The Associated Press.

The plane was an anti-submarine bomber built in 1962 by Lockheed and used by the U.S. Navy to patrol the ocean.

The fire in California south of Lake Tahoe had burned about 150 acres and was estimated to be 30 percent contained on Monday.

Source Story: Lahontan Valley News
Photo Credit: By Marilyn Newton, The Gazette-Journal/AP (More Photos at Link)
Initial Post: 7:35AM, 9/2/08

Update ~ 4:30PM

USDA Forest Service
Fire and Aviation Management
Briefing Paper

Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2008


Topic: Fatal airtanker crash near Stead Airport north of Reno, NV

Background:

• A P2V airtanker crashed at approximately 6 pm PDT Monday, September 1 shortly after take-off from Stead Airport 15 miles north of Reno in Washoe County, NV,
• The airtanker was owned and operated by Neptune Aviation of Missoula, MT.
• Three contract crewmembers, including the pilot are reported to have been aboard and are presumed dead.
• The airtanker was one of 19 heavy airtankers under contract by the US Forest Service.
• Earlier on Monday, the airtanker made retardant drops on the Burnside Fire on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The approximately 200-acre Burnside Fire is located south of Lake Tahoe in Alpine County, CA.
• After completing sorties on the Burnside Fire, the airtanker was ordered by Cal Fire to the Smitty Fire in Calaveras County, CA on the Tuolumne-Calaveras Administrative Unit.
• The airtanker crashed soon after take-off on its first run to the Smitty Fire. The airtanker completed no drops on the Smitty Fire.

Current Situation:

• The NTSB is investigating.
• The cause of the accident is unknown. There is no known link or common cause related to previous accidents.

Key Points:

• The Forest Service’s first concern is for the families and friends of those who were aboard the airtanker.
• The Forest Service conducts thorough inspections of all aircraft before each wildfire season to ensure each aircraft complies with Forest Service safety standards.
• The Forest Service completed engineering studies and modified airtankers to eliminate the metal fatigue related to the 2002 airtanker accidents.
• Media calls should be directed to the NTSB at 202-314-6100.

Contact: Becky Rine. 202-205-1450