The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry released a statement Tuesday about the crash of the bird dog aircraft at the Thunder Bay airport in Ontario, Canada Monday evening. Below is an excerpt:
“Our Ministry and the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) family is deeply saddened by the loss of a pilot from MAG Aerospace Canada (one of NDMNRF’s long term contract aircraft providers) during a critical incident at the Thunder Bay airport on August 16, 2021.
“The pilot was the sole occupant of a bird dog aircraft – the plane that flies together with the CL-415 waterbombers -and was on route to Dryden for routine maintenance after completing the day of flying for NDMNRF.
“Out of respect and privacy for our staff, our partners at MAG Aerospace Canada and the individual’s family, we are not providing any specific details publicly about the incident at this time. We offer our condolences to all those who have been devastated by this sudden loss of family, friend and loved one.”
10:43 a.m. EDT August 17, 2021
Thunder Bay, Ontario airport at 9:10 p.m. Aug. 16, 2021. Still image from video by Winglet520 video.
The crash of a bird dog plane Monday at the Thunder Bay airport in Ontario, Canada killed the pilot, the only person on board.
In Canada a bird dog airplane has responsibility for the direction of air traffic over and in the immediate vicinity of a wildland fire. In addition to the pilot, they often have an Air Attack Officer in the right, or first officer seat.
The aircraft was a Rockwell Aero Commander 690B, C-GYLD, registered to Mag Aerospace Canada Corp. The company specializes in aerial fire services, aerial imagery, and ISR.
A video recorded just after the crash by Winglet520 showed what appeared to be flames spread along a runway. The description said:
Aero Commander taking off runway 07 at CYQT crashed second after getting airborne. Unknown how many on board and if they got out. Video is recorded by me from Mount Mckay scenic lookout about 5km from the accident.
On July 26 the pilot and the Air Tactical Group Supervisor had a close call in an exclusive use Aero Commander 690 while flying a fire in Idaho. Thanks to their close coordination and crew resource management they landed safely at the Rexburg, Idaho airport.
Below is part of the report that was filed:
On Thursday July 26th while flying on the Grassy Ridge Fire, Air Attack XXXX experienced an in-flight emergency requiring an immediate landing at Rexburg {RXE} Airport which was approximately 4 minutes flight time from the fire. The nature of the in-flight emergency was that the ATGS and Pilot started smelling the odor produced from burning wire.
The ATGS immediately turned off the AC unit, as it had a breaker trip 2 days earlier and first thought was that maybe that could be the problem. However within a minute the Door Indicator Light came on, the Pilot went to reset the switch and it immediately popped off again. Then the Pilots radio and intercom went out.
The decision was made to head to the nearest airport which was identified as Rexburg showing 4 minutes on the GPS. The GPS turned off and then came back on. The Pilot and ATGS went through the Electrical Emergency Procedures Check List and set up for a straight in landing on Runway 17 {RXE}. The ATGS notified Dispatch and the IC of the emergency situation in route to the airport. The ATGS due to the Pilots radio being out made the calls on 122.8 of the approach and landing.
Upon landing more things started to fail, the right “Gen Out“ light went on and a couple circuit breakers popped out. Once the plane landed the gear down warning started to sound. The aircraft was taxied to parking and the Pilot went through the shut down procedures, however the engines would not shut down. The ATGS held in the door activation switch and the pilot reset a couple of the breakers and the engines shut down.
The pilot and ATGS did a quick survey of the aircraft to insure there was no fire and no smoke was visible, just the strong odor of the burning wire. With all power turned off the aircraft was monitored while the Pilot and ATGS made calls to Dispatch and company owner and mechanic.
The Owner and Head of Maintenance arrived in Rexburg about 1830 and began to do an inspection. The initial finding was that the Pulse Light on the right wing tip had caused the control switch to “melt“. For some reason a breaker or fuse did not trip and it cause the wiring to start to melt. This caused other wires to also “fry“ which was the cause of the loss of the pilot radio and other items turning off and circuits to pop. The company is starting the process of going through the wiring trunk and repair the damage caused by the incident.
File photo of a King Air E90. Photo by Alan Radecki.
In March the U.S. Forest Service issued two contracts for air attack planes — one aircraft per contract. Avcenter out of Pocatello, Idaho received one for a Rockwell Turbo Commander 690B. The other was awarded to Dynamic Aviation Group in Bridgewater, Virginia for a Beechcraft King Air E90.
Both contracts began with the planes in the Southwest Geographic Area (Arizona and New Mexico) in April, and then in early July they relocated to the Northwest Geographic Area (Washington and Oregon).
File photo of a Commander 690B.
One interesting thing about the solicitation was the description of the aircraft in the synopsis:
…air tactical type I, light high-fixed-wing aircraft…
The requirement for a high-wing aircraft conflicts with the specifications in the full request for quotations where the block for “High Wing” was not checked, meaning it was not required. It is possible that some potential bidders who had low wing aircraft available, like the King Air B90, saw the high wing requirement in the synopsis and assumed, logically, that their aircraft was not qualified. Dynamic Aviation, which has contracted for many aircraft with the federal government, obviously read beyond the synopsis and determined that their King Air met the specifications.
There was a big difference in the costs of the contracts. Avcenter’s Commander 690B will receive $1,290 for daily availability and $1,505 for each flight hour. Dynamic’s King Air E90 will get $879 for daily availability and $1,210 per flight hour. In availability alone, the difference is over $56,000. The flight hour costs will add tens of thousands of additional dollars to the difference in the two aircraft. If the Forest Service could be completely satisfied with the less expensive King Air and contracted for two instead of one, an accurate synopsis possibly could have saved the taxpayers a lot of money by attracting more bidders.
Another example of sloppiness in the solicitation, but a much more minor one, is the title:
“Ligth Fixed Wing Air Attack Platforms”
The Forest Service has had a great deal of difficulty contracting for firefighting aircraft. In the last few years many contract awards have been protested, delaying the process by at least 100 days each time. This “high wing” screw-up could be grounds for another protest unless the time limit for protests has passed.
Neptune’s Tanker 41, a BAe-146, at Boise, July 19, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Neptune Aviation, in addition to the six P2Vs and one BAe-146 they have under exclusive use contracts, expects to have a total of seven converted BAe-146 air tankers available by the end of this year. Perhaps some of those additional six will be put to work when the U.S. Forest Service announces the second round of “next-generation” air tanker contracts later this year, or perhaps in 2016. Proposals from vendors were due March 24, 2015.
The American Helicopter Services And Aerial Firefighting Association issued a press release about preparations their clients are undertaking to get ready for this fire season.
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While the fire season throughout much of the US does not begin until early spring, the private aerial firefighting industry is—even now–battle-ready for what could be another tough year, thanks to ongoing dry conditions in the Western states.
“I think there is going to be far more fire activity in 2015, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, which is a lot drier than it was last year at this time,” said Drew Njirich, President of Intermountain Helicopter in Sonora, California. “Although California will also be an area of focus, every part of the west, including Idaho and Montana, could be severely impacted by this year’s fire season.”
Intermountain Helicopter’s single Bell 212 medium helicopter, which is under an Exclusive Use (EU) contract with the US Forest Service (USFS) for the next three years, underwent maintenance and modification work during the winter months to assure its availability for its multi-mission work in support of ground-based fire firefighters, such as ferrying of personnel and supplies to the fire lines. As an additional safety measure for the upcoming fire season, the company installed a Garmin GDL-69 satellite link weather system in order to monitor weather conditions in areas where there is no cellphone coverage. “Being linked to a satellite system means that we can monitor the weather wherever we are, in real time,” Njirich explained. “When it comes to safety, we try to stay ahead of the game.”
At Rogers Helicopters, winter maintenance is nearing completion. “We always prepare for a high level of firefighting, even if it turns out that the fire season is not as severe as those in the past,” said Robin Rogers, Vice-President of the Fresno, California-based company.
Two of the company’s Bell 212s are being readied for operation under USFS EU contracts, with an additional three Bell 212s committed to EU contracts with the State Of Alaska Department Of Forestry.
“Another Bell 212, and a Eurocopter AS 350B2 A-Star will be under USFS Call When Needed (CWN) contracts,” Rogers noted. “In addition, we have two fixed wing Rockwell 690A twin turboprop Commanders that will be operated in air traffic management roles during aerial firefighting for the USFS.”
Those aircraft will be manned by a cadre of 14 pilots, four of whom will be assigned to the Commanders. All of the pilots are currently undergoing recurrent training, said Rogers, who explained that all of the company’s fixed wing and helicopter training is carried out in house.
Keith Saylor, Director Of Commercial Operations for Columbia Helicopters in Portland, Oregon, reported that the operator has just submitted a proposal to make 19 helicopters available under state and federal CWN contracts. Those aircraft will include former US Army CH47D helicopters, acquired by Columbia last year, as well as Columbia Model 107s and Model 234s. At the same time, three of the company’s Model 107s and one Model 234 will be commencing the final year of a four year USFS EU contract beginning in May.
“We put our aircraft through some contractually mandated avionics changes, along with our routine winter fleet maintenance,” Saylor pointed out. “We also carried out initial training of the pilots we newly hired, along with recurrent training for those already on staff.” Columbia Helicopters, he added, is anticipating a “moderate to severe” fire season for the Pacific Northwest.
Neptune Aviation Services, the largest operator of fixed wing aerial tankers, expects to wrap up all heavy maintenance in May, according to Dan Snyder, Chief Operating Officer of the Missoula, Montana-headquartered company. “Since last fall, we will have invested nearly 18,000 man-hours to prepare our aircraft for the 2015 fire season, which is about average for each year,” he said.
Currently, Neptune Aviation Services has seven aircraft under EU contracts with the USFS for 2015, which includes six P2V Neptunes and one BAe146 jet. However, Snyder stressed that other aircraft are available as needed. In fact, by the end of this year, the operator expects to have a fleet of seven BAe146 jets reconfigured for aerial firefighting, in addition to its legacy fleet of P2Vs.
“We began flight crew training on both the Neptunes and BAe146s starting in January of this year,” Snyder reported. “That includes ground school, simulator, in-aircraft training; as well as mission specific training.” The BAe146 simulator training, he explained, is conducted in Australia and in the United Kingdom. “We use a generic simulator for the P2V instrument training,” said Snyder.
Although he did not want to speculate about the coming fire season, Snyder did point out that the company has received inquiries from the USFS about deploying some of the contracted aircraft early due to concerns about the fire potential in California. The first aircraft, in fact, has been mission ready since March 5, with deployment of the remaining five by May 30.
