Narrative:The Lockheed P2V-7 air tanker crashed after dropping a partial load of retardant on the Butler Creek Fire. The crew apparently became fixated on the malfunction of the retardant-release doors and did not realize the tanker was entering a narrow box canyon. The airplane struck steeply rising terrain below the ridge top.
Probable Cause:
The investigation team determined this following sequence of events leading up to the impact point.
The Captain presumably elected to fly a flight path northeast into the drainage as requested by the smokejumpers. As the Captain began the flight path and programmed his tank doors for the requested half-load drop, something went wrong and part of the retardant was dropped. The problem could have been:
1. The airtanker tank and gating system malfunctioned as it was being programmed and one or more doors opened without command (Most probable).
2. The Captain inadvertently touched the drop switch on his control yoke after selecting and arming the three doors required for a half-load drop and dropped one or more doors (Moderately probable).
3. The Captain saw that the planned drop pattern would require a hard climb and dropped part of the retardant load to enhance climb performance (Least probable).
Classification:
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) - Mountain
Sources:
» Flight Safety Digest, April 1999 -- Fixed-wing Aircraft Accidents During US Aerial Fire Fighting Operations 1976-1998
»
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fatal Aviation Accident History / Compiled By: Candy S. Rock FitzPatrick
Photos
accident date:
29-07-1994type: Lockheed P-2H Neptune
registration: N918AP
Map
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.