National Transportation Safety Board Wants More Oversight on Firecraft
The National Transportation Safety Board said procedures for detecting the problem, known as fatigue cracking, didn't adequately account for the increased safety risk posed by older firefighting aircraft or the severe stresses those planes encounter.
``We hope the release of these reports will raise operator awareness of the unique problems that affect these specialized aircraft, and the importance of a thorough maintenance program to detect safety issues and prevent accidents,'' NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said.
In 2002, three crewmembers were killed when a 46-year-old Lockheed C-130A crashed after it lost both wings. Similar problems were found in an aging PB4Y-2 that broke up and crashed fighting a Colorado fire that same year, killing both crew members.
The similarities of those crashes prompted the NTSB to reopen its investigation into the 1994 crash of a C-130A, which, like the others, had been converted to a firefighting airtanker. The right wing of that plane came off in mid-air, killing three people. Witnesses said they saw a flash and then a fireball near where the wing connects to the fuselage.
The NTSB had originally concluded that the explosion was probably caused by fuel that leaked from a pressurized fuel line system and ignited. Since then, the safety board determined the blast was caused by fuel that ignited after the wing separated.
