No cockpit voice recorder audio of fatal bushfire air tanker crash

The cockpit voice recorder of an air tanker which crashed in a ball of flame near Cooma killing three US firefighters offers no clues to crash.

The crash site of a C-130 Hercules firefighting aircraft that killed three American men in Australia to help battle bushfires. Picture: NSW Police/ATSB

The C-130 water tanker that crashed while helping to battle bushfires in the Snowy Mountains killing three American men on board, had recorded no audio on its cockpit voice recorder since arriving in Australia two months before the fatal mission.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has released its preliminary report on the crash on January 23, about 50km northeast of the Cooma-Snowy Mountains Airport.

No distress calls were made before the crash, and the report said the CVR recovered from the crash site was found to contain no audio from the C-130’s final flight.

The last recording was from a flight undertaken in the US, before the C-130’s deployment to Australia.

The report said after leaving the Richmond RAAF base, the aircraft was tasked to drop retardant on the Adaminaby Complex bushfire, but was unable to carry out the drop and was sent to the Good Good fire instead.

Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft complete a number of circuits before completing the drop, at about 200 feet above ground level with a drop time of two seconds.

Following the drop, the C-130 was seen to bank left before becoming obscured by smoke. After 15-seconds, the aircraft was seen “flying at a very low height above the ground in a left wing attitude”, the report said.

“Shortly after, at about 1.16pm, the aircraft collided with terrain and a post-impact fuel-fed fire ensued. The three crew were fatal injured and the aircraft was destroyed,” the report said.

At the time, visibility was down to 2000m, and there was severe turbulence below 5000 ft above ground level.

ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said the question of why the CVR did not record any audio, would form part of the investigation.

The catastrophic crash of the C-130 Hercules killed three US crewmen. Picture: NSW Police / ATSB

“Audio from cockpit voice recorders often play an important role in aircraft accident investigations, however, our investigators do have a range of other evidence, including witness videos, at their disposal in building a comprehensive understanding of the accident sequence,” Mr Hood said.

Initial examinations of the site, damage to surrounding vegetation and ground markings, indicated that the aircraft initially impacted a tree in a left wing down attitude, before colliding with the ground, he said.

The ongoing investigation would consider environmental influences, the crew’s qualifications, experience and medical information, the nature of aerial firefighting operations and operating policies and procedures.

“An investigation of this nature and complexity may take more than 18 months to complete,” Mr Hood said.

“However, should any safety critical information be discovered at any time during the investigation, we will immediately notify operators and regulators, and make that publicly known.”

The men killed included captain Ian McBeth, first officer Paul Clyde Hudson and flight engineer Rick deMorgan Jr.

A statement from Coulson Aviation which was operating the aircraft under contract to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, welcomed the preliminary report.

CEO Wayne Coulson said it provided some understanding of the events leading up to the crash.

“We are continuing to work with the ATSB, and we are providing every assistance to them as part of the investigations. It’s important for us, for our team and for the families of those we’ve lost, to understand what happened that day,” he said.

“We recognise that this preliminary report is just the start and further review of the information available will help form a better picture of what occurred, and what can be learned from this tragedy.”