A privately owned C-130 made a crash landing in Southern California at Santa Barbara Airport Sunday night after declaring an emergency. It had earlier taken off from Santa Maria 47 miles northwest of Santa Barbara airport. All seven people on board escaped without serious injury. There was a fire after it came to a stop which was quickly extinguished by an airport crash rescue truck spraying foam.
CBS News reported that the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane experienced hydraulic problems shortly after departing from Santa Maria, bound for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
FlightAware shows that the aircraft landed at Santa Barbara 16 minutes after taking off from Santa Maria.
#AircraftEmergency– A Private C-130 aircraft made an emergency landing, crashed and caught fire at the Santa Barbara Airport at 10:13 p.m. Sunday. 7 souls aboard/escaped w no injuries. **ALL MEDIA CALL SBAirport PIO At 805-319-1400** pic.twitter.com/ptJJbeUM2q
— SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) August 26, 2019
There are reports that the aircraft was N119TG, serial number 57-520, which is registered to International Air Response out of Mesa, Arizona. In an earlier life 57-520 appears to have been Air Tanker 88, N138FF, operated by Hemet Valley Flying Service in Santa Rosa, California. A Google search for “Air Tanker 88, N138FF” produced many photos.
International Air Response’s website says the company “… is a global provider of specialized aerial services. Founded in 1976, the company owns, maintains, and operates a large fleet of Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.” The site has a page dedicated to Aerial Firefighting : “C-130 Hercules equipped with RADS aerial firefighting system – The most versatile and effective large air tanker with proven results.” The page has what must be a very old photo of Tanker 81 dropping retardant. Today CAL FIRE has S2 air tankers known as Tanker 81 and Tanker 88.
I think they have 3 flying 130’s.
N117TG, N118TG, N120TG
I believe N119TG was the one that crash landed in CA.
Hi, Ted. Thanks very much for the information, doing research after posting came across Youtube video of a TV commercial. my understanding that Hercules been used 119.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZcQNb8_j0s&feature=youtu.be
They also have N121TG that I believe is in Singapore.
Hi. As anybody know how many C-130 Hercules that international air response have?, very interesting company.
More infos on the T88 Drop picture.
It was taken in 1993 by Larry Groff’s wife Christine on a fire near Windsor north of Santa Rosa.
T88 crew was Larry Groff (Captain), J.D Donahue(FO) and Roger….. (FE).
Larry was killed on Aug 27th on the Bus Fire.
Jerome,
IAR owns T131 and T133, bought for parts. I worked on IAR aircraft several years ago and can confirm that those aircraft are on property.
ok Doug. Thanks for the info.
C-130, Hemet Flying Services Tanker 88, was based at Santa Rosa for the fire season 1993. Was acquired by T&G Aviation/IAR in the 1990’s. I don’t think IAR owns any former H&P Hercs(to be confirmed).
As Tom said, N116TG, Tanker 82 was lost Sept 6th 2000 in Burzet, southern France Killing FE Joe Williams and FO Paul Trinque.
IAR is Woody Grantham’s old T&G Aviation, now run by his sons. They have their own C-130’s, and H&P’s old C130’s.
I believe T&G’s Herc N116TG (Tanker 30) was renumbered Tanker 81 when it was flying for the Sécurité Civile when it was under contract in France in ’92, ’93 & 1994. N116TG was lost in a crash near Burzet, France crashed killing two of the four crewmen on board when it struck a ridge while preparing for a second drop on the fire.
Somebody who is more familiar with the C-130 fleet should be able to add more info, but N119TG (the plane that crashed in Santa Barbara )may have been one of the three A model airframes T&G bought from Hemet Valley.
N117TG was tanker 81 while working for Security Civile in France.
N116TG was tanker 82 while working in France. Crashed Sept 6 2000 on her 2nd load for the morning. She was a good ole girl and I was lucky to have survived her last flight.