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Merry Christmas 2017

GJHatcher — Sun, 24 Dec 2017 05:15:10 +0000

The post Merry Christmas 2017 first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.

Air Tanker Crashed Fighting Yosemite Wildfire; Pilot Killed

George Hatcher — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 13:06:54 +0000

An air tanker, belonging to California Fire Department, crashed while fighting the Dog Rock Fire near Arch Rock in Yosemite National Park, northern California, on October 7.

The Cal fire department confirmed that the single-seater S-2T aircraft went down at around 4:26 p.m. near an entrance to the Yosemite National Park.

The pilot of the air tanker was killed in the accident. He was later identified as Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt, 62, of San Jose.

Chief Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire director said, “We continue to mourn the tragic loss of Craig…We know wildland firefighting is an inherently dangerous job, but Craig made the ultimate sacrifice.”

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B.C. Wildfire Plane Lands in Emergency at Kamloops Airport

George Hatcher — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:26:06 +0000

A Convair 580, Wildfire plane made an emergency landing at Kamloops Airport in British Columbia, Canada, at around 8:30 a.m. on August 5.

The pilot reported a mechanical issue in one of the two engines and turned the faulty engine off. He, then manage to land safely on one engine.

The plane was carrying retardant which he dumped at a fire in Kamloops Fire Centre before landing.

Navi Saini, a female fire information officer with B.C. Wildfire said, “We still have engineers working to figure out what had happened.”

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Blackburn Canyon Cessna Crash, Tehachapi Wildfire

GJHatcher — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:28:59 +0000

What: Cessna 210
Where: Blackburn Canyon, Tehachapi, California
When: Sept 4, 2011
Who: 2 aboard, 2 fatalities
Why: A Cessna that crashed in Blackburn Canyon, Tehachapi, California killed both people aboard the flight and ignited a fire that caused the evacuation of hundreds of homes south of Bakersfield. Two were confirmed dead in the crash, and it has not (yet) been confirmed if there were more than 2 aboard.

As of Monday, the number of evacuations had grown from 100 to 650 to about 1,500 homes homes. The threatened area was the mountains around the crash and a seven square mile burn area, all threatened by a raging forest fire. Firefighters concentrated on creating a fire-break.

A DC-10 water tanker has been part of the firefighting team, including 600 firefighters and more than a dozen aircraft.

Tehachapi, with a population of 8,000, has some renown as an area with wind farms. Smaller fires spread to San Bernardino National Forest and rural areas of San Bernardino County.

The fire has been 95% contained.

raw video

Early news report

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