Plane Crash!!!

I am very acquainted with the crash shown in this video. I retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 1999 having logged 5500 hours on fire fighting duties on 108 wildfires. The last 18 years of my career were spent on the Toiyabe National Forest, near the site of this crash, and the Inyo National Forest, which is just south of the Toiyabe. At the time of this crash I was working for the Mono County Sheriffs Department as a volunteer disaster service worker. One of my duties on this fire was to keep looky lous away from the crash scene until the NTSB completed their on the ground portion of the investigation.

This crash occurred in the town of Walker, California in the Sierra Nevada mountains, during June, 2002. The aircraft was on a air tanker contract with the U.S. Forest Service and the contractor was Hawkins and Powers. All three occupants were employees of that company and all died. The aircraft was a military surplus C-130A that first flew in 1957. After being retired from military service, the plane was used by the CIA. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the crash and were hampered during some portions of it due to the CIA not sharing information regarding flight hours, loads carried, and maintenance. The cause was determined to be metal fatique in the area where the right wing was attached to the fuselage. If I remember correctly this caused excessive stress to the left wing, which then "snapped" off also.

This aircraft did not belong to or was it contracted by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), a state agency. It was under contract to the U.S. Forest Service, a federal agency. As a result of this and other crashes involving C-130's the Forest Service grounded all "heavy" air tankers. It was more than a year before the first heavy, not a C130, was put back into service. Even today, the bulk of the heavy tankers are not back in service. That has caused a shift in how retardant is delivered to fires.

The system of using contractors to provide aircraft and personnel capable of delivering fire retardant to a fire is the only alternative short of having the federal government have aircraft specifically designed and built for this type of work. That would be the best way to do it, however, the cost would exceed the ability of the agencies (6 of them) in the federal government to fund such a program. In California CDF "owns" some medium air tankers, however, the U.S. Forest Service actually holds title to them and they are loan to this state agency. The value of the lands and property that CDF protects is high enough that this state agency has the funding needed to maintain the largest fleet of aircraft of any state wildland fire agency in the U.S. Most state agencies order air tankers at the time of a fire, from the National Interagency Fire Center, or one of the 11 Geographical Area Coordinating Centers under the National Center.

For all you conspiracy theorists out there....this looked suspiciously like it was hit by a missile ;)
Seriously speaking though, God bless the souls of those who died there while saving others. I just hope that their families will be taken care of by the state (which I seriously doubt)

I am also very familiar with this airplane. It was scrapped by the military because of known center section cracks but because of the good ole boy cast of familiar incestuous clowns H&P managed to get there hands on it. If you are familiar with this particular airplane than you also know about the switch that was put in there as a joke. Airplanes are kind of like guns, they don't kill people, people do. Because of politics airplanes best suited as tankers don't get used. The lunatics are running the asylum.

omg you guys seriously need to get a life, somebody said it was a conspiracy theory?? or it was attacked by a missile? lol you losers need to seriously get a life and get out of the house, staying on the internet all day has seriously caused you to be out of touch with reality......lol

this fire took place in the sangabriel mts. i lived like 30 mins away. this plane crashed because the smoke jumpers and water droppers all get their planes from retired commercial and military airplanes. this plane did not crash because of the fire. its because the plane was poorly inspected and probably made well over the maximum amount of flights aloud.

that it was havely filed with water or wath the hell that was the plane coudn't resist that kind of weight

am not einstei but it think it could have been the heat and forces put on the wings

How the hell do wings just come off like that???

GOOD one, you dodgy old, senile, should've hung up ya wings, piece of shit plane!.. Your meant to be helping the situation!!!