Today the U.S. Forest Service released their Preliminary 24-hour briefing for the accident involving Tanker 48 at Fresno Airport on June 15. The report says the NTSB has classified it an “accident”, so it will be interesting to see if it shows up in the Forest Service’s FY 2014 Aviation Safety Summary. In the past they have used creative methods to ignore multiple accidents in the annual report, even those that had fatalities.
Below is the 24-hour report:
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“File Code: 6730 Date: June 17, 2014
Route To:
Subject: Preliminary (24-Hour) Briefing
To: Regional Forester
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE:
Location: Fresno-Yosemite Airport
Date of occurrence: June 15, 2014
Time of occurrence: 2045
Team leader: Eric Shambora
Mission: Retardant dropping
Number injured: 0
Number of fatalities: 0
Property damage (such as to vessels, equipment, and structures): Aircraft sustained substantial damage, the amount of damage is still to be determined.
Narrative: At approximately 2045 Pacific Time a P2V air tanker suffered a collapsed nose landing gear on touchdown at Fresno Yosemite Airport in Fresno, California. The air tanker was supporting the Shirley Fire, located on the Sequoia National Forest. The National Transportation Board has classified the event as an accident. The Pacific Southwest Regional Office, in collaboration with the Forest Service Washington Office, has deployed an aircraft accident investigation team.
/s/ Kevin B. Elliott
KEVIN B. ELLIOTT
Forest Supervisor”
I don’t think its cooking the books on the stats. It’s based on the agency that has operational control not on who contracts for it. That’s an NTSB determination not by the forestry service. They are along for the ride. If they put it in their stats it would also be attributed to the other agency doubling the accidents. Look back at the NTSB records. I think this was part of Independent Safety Board Act Amendment of 1994. This brought investigation of these public aircraft operations under the NTSB among other things.
I see it states substantial damage…Does anyone know if Minden Air Corps is planning on getting T-48 back in service?
I believe the old bird is better off being turned to scrap. She was quite rough before the mishap.