Reports of Large Air Tanker down in Australia-Jan 2020

Clearly this is very sad and unexpected, even though fire fighting operations are inherently dangerous. This is an unbelievably bad summer fire season, something like 5 million Hectares has been burnt in the state of NSW alone. The area the tanker went down in is extremely rugged and quite remote and fires are burning all around it. It is basically over the Snowy Mountain Hydro electric scheme and my first thought is that given the extremely poor visibility they may have hit high tension power lines from the hydro plants which are all over the area. It would certainly explain some of the reports that the aircraft suddenly crashed and appeared to certain eyewitnesses to be on fire. The military immediately dispatched and re tasked assets like other C-130's, helicopters and a P-8 Poseidon in the search. The ATSB will have already dispatched a crash investigation team and will be assisted by state and federal police, the RFS (Rural Fire Service) who they were contracted to, Coulson of course who have temporarily grounded their tankers and the RAAF who have over 60 years of highly complex operational experience on the C-130. The ATSB are very well resourced, highly regarded and will run a first rate and thorough investigation. There are eyes watching this at the highest levels of government so they will get to the bottom of it. This will be the exact opposite of what we just saw in Iran.

First vid of the wreckage..
C130 wreckage

Capt. Ian McBeth flew C-130s for the Wyoming Air National Guard before joining the Montana Air National Guard.

First Officer Clyde Hudson served 20 years in the Marines, retiring as a Lt. Col.

Flight Engineer Rick DeMorgen Jr served as a flight engineer for 18 years in the Air Force.

www.krtv.com...

RIP.

Aerial fire fighting is not easy.

My Air Assault unit helped in Colorado in 2012 and in California in 2015. We used Blackhawks equipped with bambi buckets. No one ever felt safe doing those missions. Those tankers have to fly in bad conditions, low and slow, and with changing operating weight due to the water sloshing around and the sudden release.

It's a dynamic situation with many considerations including the airworthiness of the aircraft.

a reply to: projectvxn

Word is they went into a valley on a drop, and didn't come out.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Coming up over a mountain the winds can shift and push you hard. Especially heavy.

a reply to: projectvxn

With the fire close you can get windshear too. That's what happened to the MAFFS bird a couple years ago.

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
Dangitt...a Hercules......God love em

That's the second Herc firebomber lost. In 2002 a c-130 fighting a fire in Walker, CA shed both wings, rolled inverted and crashed, killing all 3 crew. The NTSB found a failure in the wing center section.

a reply to: F4guy

A MAFFS C-130 went down in a valley in 2012.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: projectvxn

With the fire close you can get windshear too. That's what happened to the MAFFS bird a couple years ago.

We always briefed on the effects big fires have when flying low and slow. They create their own winds and essentially spread themselves through this. REALLY big fires can actually suck air and cause rotor droop on helicopters. Not a good place to be.

It's just too dynamic of a situation. These are the kinds of flight missions I'd rather see drones take on.

Wondering if the Bird dog who went through first suffered any turbulence.?

Some more pics.
Wreckage

Drone video of the wreckage now available.

a reply to: Blackfinger

Looks like they were knocked out of the air and slid along as the aircraft broke up.

A kilometer of wreckage does sound like a low angle impact.Looks like a gentle slope as well,not a steep sharp ridgeline.

a reply to: Zaphod58
And based on what I have seen from drone footage and the wreckage trail Blackfinger has eluded to I'm leaning to it being either a CFIT due to wind sheer or power lines. I noted that the drone footage appeared to show the #1 and #2 engines on the ground a short distance from the empennage towards the left of the impact gouge and lying close to each other in a line which implies the left wing remained intact through most of the impact and burnt after coming to rest. The head of Coulson made a press conference statement this afternoon but said they have no idea yet what caused the crash.

If they can glean anything from the cockpit recorder..

a reply to: Blackfinger
That will be in the hands of the ATSB now. It will be interesting to see what the initial report says.

They performed the first drop, and were scheduled to make a second. After the drop, they flew into a cloud of smoke, and the next time they were seen was as the aircraft exploded.

www.news.com.au... #.tayje

Looks like she was in a left hand turn through the smoke..Something bad happened in there very suddenly..