One of the last messages from three U.S. firefighters who died in an air tanker that crashed battling bushfires in Australia earlier this year warned other pilots not to follow them, according to an interim report on the accident.
Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, of Great Falls, MT; 1st Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, 42, of Buckeye, AZ; and flight engineer Rick DeMorgan Jr., 43, of Navarro, FL, were killed when their C-130 Hercules went down Jan. 23 while dropping fire retardant over an area of the New South Wales' Snowy Mountains. They had been contracted by the NSW Rural Fire Service Coulson Aviation to fight the devastating bushfires.
The firefighters' last moments before the accident were detailed in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's interim report, which was released Thursday. Although it doesn't discuss findings or safety issues, the report does look at "the extensive evidence gathered to date" by crash investigators, ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood stated in a release.
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"Don’t send anybody, and we’re not going back," the crew said in a radio message less than an hour before the plane went down, according to the report.
At the time, the Snowy Mountains region had a severe fire danger rating because of high temperatures, strong winds and possible thunderstorms. After dropping retardant, the crew described conditions as "horrible down there" and "unsuitable for firebombing operations," the report stated.
In video footage right before the crash, smoke intermittently obscures the plane, and it's not clear if the aircraft had entered the smoke or was behind it. No distress calls were issued by the crew.
To put together its interim report, the ATSB conducted interviews, analyzed videos and collected flight, weather and other data. The plane's cockpit voice recorder, however, was inoperative.
