Flying safe

I guess some of you might have seen the firey crash of the C130 fighting the fire at Walker CA.

The pilot of the C130 Steve Wass was also a glider pilot and instructor who I had known since I started flying at Minden. Steve will be sadly missed by all who met him, he was in inspiration to any pilot or student pilot he met (he also knew how to party).

While Steve's accident was nothing to do with pilot error, I want to take this moment to remind eveyone to be careful up there. Flying is an awesome sport but when it bites it bites hard.

My condolences to all the C130 crew members families and friends.

How do we know this???

You obvioulsy havent seen the video footage Go rumage around on Yahoo I am sure you can find it.

Until then have some consideration.

Al

I can echo Al's comments. When I was towing and instructing at Minden, Steve inspired me to get my MEI, and I was ultimatly going to try for his job someday. Somehow I got sidetracked into a Citation. Our non-flying/riding/whatever friends will never understand why we choose such activities or occupations, but inspite of the grief I have from a long and growing list of departed friends, I never question my continued participation in flying/riding/diving, and the things that make me feel truly alive. I only wish I knew what lesson I can learn from such a bizzare event. I still might fly airtankers someday. I miss all of my dear friends and mourn for them today, and I especially grieve for Steve's family. Dan M.

With due respect to those involved, Al, it is wrong to make any judgement on why an accident happened until a full enquiry has been made. That is why we have an enquiry....

Kind Regards,

Andy the wings fell off his hercules.... OK..

the plane had been fitted with 2 previous sets of wings after cracks were found in the other sets. in 1994/5 fire season they lost a C130A to the same problems wings leaving the fuselage within normal flight envelope due to spar/skin failiure.

the plane steve flew was 46 years old!!

no pilot could have prevented that....with all due respect Andy watch the video.

You want more info on the wreck go to www.airtanker.com and read the message board its industry pro's talking about friends they lost in the crash and why they lost them.

Al

You seem to have missed the point Al... I've seen the video, I saw the pictures and the reports in the paper and I suppose I could go and read www.airtanker.com and then say what I thought happened, but I won't because that is pure speculation.

Every time there is an accident, websites are inundated with armchair safety inspectors giving their tuppence (sorry 2 cents) worth. The reason we have boards of enquiry is to establish the hard facts behind the accident and come to a conclusion as to why it happened.

I don't wish to cause any hard feelings Al, but at this stage you simply can't say that this is why it happened. There are a million possible reasons as to how this accident occurred and a 3 sentence paragraph certainly doesn't cover many of those possible reasons, and in any case this is neither the time nor the place to discuss these.

It's a very sad day when fellow aviators are lost in action, but let them rest, think about their family and friends and leave the investigation to the professionals.

Kind Regards,

First, sincere condolences to family and friends of the crew. 8-(

The fact that the wings fell off is not speculation. The fact that some of these aircraft have had wings replaced due to cracks and such is not speculation. The fact that the aircraft was old is not speculation. The fact that the pilot was known to be competent and professional is not speculation.

The opinions of seasoned pilots and crews are often worth more than armchair bureaucrats. I think everyone is saddened and offers condolences to the crew and families, but it is wrong to discount opinions based on experience.

As to the 'why' of the wings falling off, all the facts stated are pertinent and germane to the investigation. Forensic metalurgical investigation may finally determine the micro 'causes', but the macro 'effects' are known. I can tell you one fact, metal doesn't break unless it is under stress. (25,000 lbs of retardant is probably quite a lot of stress!)

This is no different than watching a video of a car crash when a front tire explodes after hitting some pebble or debre. We may speculate on why the tire exploded so violently, it may be found that the tire was molded with a flaw or was overheated...but cause and effect is pretty straight forward; tire go boom, car go boom.

This aircraft incident is likewise clear... wings fall off, things fall down. It does no harm to speculate as to the cause of the wing separation based on known facts, that is what news groups are about. If it happens to be in bad taste, then that is also a personal opinion/feeling. But don't think the 'brains' used in the heads of the NTSB investigators are different than your own... give yourself and others some credit.

JMHO

Armand

No doubt. And, so does yanking the stick/yoke back to the stop way past maneuvering speed - and I'm NOT suggesting that is what happened. I don't know. I'm with Graham and Al, let's wait for the investigators to do their jobs.

with respect to the crew,

Tony V.

Good post Armand.

A 46 year old C130A with known wingspar problems it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened. As for Steve's piloting abilities he was one if not THE most senior pilot the operating company had. He had years of experience doing that job. He was supposed to transfer to P2's later this month because he didnt want to fly the C130.

These old C130As need grounding (as they have after this incident) before they kill another crew.

Al

While agreeing with all those who have cautioned against jumping to conclusions, of whatever kind, the above comment is absolutely true. Remember the De Havilland Comet, they allowed that 3 goes before they binned it and that was 3 too many, and if I recall the circumstances correctly at least one of those accidents was put down to pilot error. Sadly if you think that flight safety will ever become a greater priority than commercial profit you should move to the planet Zog bcause it won't. Even in our branch of aviation there are far greater priorities for some than flight safety, just read back on some of the postings on this board and