The old bird flew till her wings gave out. Godspeed to the flight crew and condolences to their families. Another informative video from The flight Channel.
@@davedave5787 what a piss poor response, did you not see the part where it was a hidden flaw and there were no procedures in writing to identify this type of flaw. No one wants an accident like this. Procedures were updated upon learning of the hidden defect.
This aircraft was not a troop carrier, it was a highly modified spy plane during the cold war,I was a scanner in the7406,flew many missions including in 538, we lost the 1st mission bird in 1958 sn 528, due to mig 17`s,sn were 525 to 541,were the sn of our mission ac,, air crafft flew over grossed du a special waiver. I think 540 or 541 met the same fate as 538, she was a real warrior,servig here country!!
@@douglasw5371 You ignore the FACT that this has happened to other Hercules aircraft. So clearly, there is a common denominator involved. Maybe using an aircraft beyond it's use by date ?
An excellent re-creation. No narration, great graphics, and a written explanation of what happened. The music was very appropriate. I wish other sites like yours would stop trying to recreate accidents ( complete with screaming passengers and wide-eyed pilots) and just stick to the facts. You guys do it best.
Then and today, the clip is a of a terrible event to watch. A bit of us passed away with this crew. This event places into a real perspective the great risk all firefighting service real people face. Full gratitude to all of them!
Thank you so much for posting this particular video as it answered a number of questions I've had since this accident happened. Watching this was a bit of an emotional experience for me as the co pilot was my oldest friend and we'd know each other our entire lives. I've seen the footage many times and it's always painful to watch but this added some much needed perspective for me. RIP Craig, I miss you man!
My sincere sympathy, I am terribly sorry for your loss. I lost my best friend at the very young age and all these years later still can't forget her. RIP Craig and Halinka
It has been a sweet and sad journey with Flight Channel over the years. The improvements in video and scripting have been amazing. And as a former military and civilian pilot; they have been very emotional to think of the last moments that the pilots and passengers went through in these episodes. These episodes should be part of a safety course for pilots to learn from others experiences. RIP.
I am not a pilot but I have learned quite a bit about the changes that have occurred on airplanes due to crash investigation period but I agree that I always think about the people on these flights and pray for the families
RIP for the flight crew. I'm thrilled to see the cinematic scenes return to the beginning of these videos and this one in particular is a masterpiece. The angles and digital effects (directional red, green lines) are an improvement I didn't know I'd appreciate so much. Excellent work. Wow
And anybody who has see those planes drop the fire retardents on the side of a hill, or mountain.... Those planes seriously dive bomb down following the contour of the land. It amazes me every time I see it.
And that dive bombing is why the airframes are needing more maintenance checks because it's stressing it more than it would ordinarily, never mind on craft that have significant hours on them/age.
@@ynotnilknarf39 oh I know. I was just pointing out that these pilots go above and beyond, putting their lives on the line to save others. Becuase they know what could happen, pushing the aircraft like that.
The c141 starlifter overlapped with hercules .It was 1961in 1981 when I worked on them. They had turbofan engines instead of 4 props. They had me change wingbolts after 6000 flying hours. Its dark inside the wing and hot, you must crawl on belly or hands and knees. A guy I trained was clostrophobic and almost lost it in there when the flashlight dimmed. You could suffocate in there. Some mechanics will not go in there. Very little space in the T tail also. A skinny ladder and skimpy light. Im sure things have improved by now somewhat.
Her bones could have been replaced during the 80s when Lockheed recommended to replace the center wing box, exactly where the wings folded up. But because she was a C-130A, the USAF didn't do anything.
Spent most of my life on C130s, the older models were known for having weak wing boxes the later models the boxes were changed. this was an older 130 and the box failed..If I had to guess I would think it pulled too many Gs to often...it most likely had a crack that could have been seen if somebody had crawled down into the wing...
I don't believe that's the entire answer. Can't you get inside the wing box on a C130? We did all the time on the C141 during ISO to look specifically for cracks in the wing box.
@@HandFromCoffin Herc's have a center dry bay, but don't believe this could have been found anywhere other than depot level. Which these planes did not have in their maintenance program.
We now have a zonal where we inspect wingbox screws for corrosion in iso at our hangar. (Should add on top of the ndi and sheet metal inspections) There are many that are incredibly corroded under the carc paint unfortunately.
I think it’s important to point out this was NOT an Air National Guard C-130. This Herc had been retired before being acquired as surplus and converted to a tanker and operated by a private company.
And nor did it crash in South Dakota, but in California: I think the poster may be thinking of a firefighting C130-C3 which crashed in the Black Hills in July 2012 with the loss of four lives (two survivors).
Yeah, all through the video I was expecting to learn how the old and retired 'A' model had somehow been reacquired by the Air Guard from a private company.
I think there is a separate video for the Air Guard crash your thinking of... but it does look like there might be some mix ups in this video still. Not really sure as I am just looking at articles now.
@@JAF30 I believe TheFlightChannel changed the name of the video after several viewers pointed out the error. The original name included ANG C-130, which obviously this was not.
If something is made in 1957 and retired in 1978...and then resurrected and flown up to 2002...you don't need a maintenance program to tell you that there are cracks on the frame. RIP guys
The military has NDI, non destructive Inspection which entails x-rays of internal parts where you may not SEE a crack. Metal stress can be evasive to the naked eyes or hands. Thats how we knew a vertical stabilator had to be changed. Internal cracks. Remove 20000 screws with a speedhandle, then put the new one on.No ratchet on aircraft. We had to r&r a wing also. Alot of handwork with a crane for balance.
These guys are heroes. I live in a very similar geographical area further south of the Mojave Desert, and when we see the tankers drop fire retardant - we're grateful. Living in these areas gives us beautiful views of nature, but we're getting so many fires lately. The pilots and crews have our eternal gratitude.
I was on a UK Airworthiness committee some years ago and we were all concerned with the C130. Because of its age it never had a full scale airframe fatigue test as is required of more modern airframes. The airframes were then upgraded over time rather like grandfather's axe and so it was very hard to establish the airframe fatigue useage.
Grandfather's Axe? Is that a similar analogy to "Trigger's Broom" (from the sitcom Only Fools and Horses)? "I've had the same broom for 20 years. It's only had 17 new heads and 14 new handles!"
I was a lead mechanic on a couple of C-130's I can tell you what inspection card they failed to do. The Center wing box bolts and holes required like every D check. You no load the wings on jacks and inspect every bolt hole and we simply replaced all the bolts and hardware. If that aircraft failed that inspection it was a one time trip to the bone yard in Arizona. DMAFB.
The description and title of this video are off by a decade. They need to be edited. The C-130A operated by H&P that is subject of this video crashed following fatigue crack induced wing box failure on June 17, 2002 in California. A completely separate aerial firefighting C-130 mishap happened on 1 July 2012. This one involved a NC ANG MAFFS equipped C-130H3 (93-1458). This fatal mishap occurred in South Dakota while fighting the White Draw Fire. The investigation revealed that microburst conditions were present on the retardant drop run that overcame the performance of the aircraft to climb away from terrain. The MP, MC, MN and MFE were fatally injured. The two MLs were injured, but survived.
Interestingly enough, 30 days after this C-130A fatal mishap in 2002, another H&P aircraft suffered an inflight breakup while participating in aerial firefighting. On July 18, 2002, N7620C, a Consolidated PB4Y “Privateer”, callsign Tanker 123, suffered an overload failure of the left wing, just inboard of the #2 engine. The aircraft was dropping retardant on the Big Elk fire outside of Lyons, CO. This resulted in the deaths of the two pilots and led to the ultimate demise of Hawkins and Powers operations at GreyBull, WY. Following these two fatal mishaps, the USFS and BLM halted contract fixed wing firefighting aircraft while a BlueRibbon panel investigated the maintenance practices of H&P.
You are correct. The C130 crash from the 145th crashed in 2012... I personally knew many on that flight but there were survivors. I hope this description is corrected.
If it was, then I'm willing to bet that the cracks would have been found during depot maintenance. You would think that you wouldn't want to cut corners with extremely high stress missions like firefighting, but hindsight is a bitch I suppose.
@@golds3882 The cracks in both cases would have been discovered with X-ray or eddy current NDT. It’s not so much that H&P were cutting corners, but more a lack of oversight on the part of FAA and USFS to ensure that H&P’s CAMP was robust enough to ensure wing box and spar NDT inspections occurred at appropriate times commiserate with their flight profiles. Both aircraft clearly needed a heavy check similar to a USAF depot level inspection at a shorter interval than what they were getting. Of course, everything is clearer with the benefit of hindsight.
I remember watching footage of this accident in the news right after it happened. Tanker pilots fly very dangerous missions just to keep us safe from annual wildfires. They often have to fly very close to the terrain, with smoky and wind-whipped conditions, to drop the retardant on hot spots. I can see this adding stress to the airframe as time progresses. I’m glad more diligent maintenance standards were put in place. Also, today more modern planes and helicopters are used for the drops. 747s were used to drop retardant on fires in Napa and Sonoma valleys in recent years.
there weren't put in place until far too late, that was the problem, delays as usual to act by the authorities and people lost their lives as a consequence!
That airplane is not a Guard airplane that is a civilian plane. It is a A model that should have never been flying. They were taken out of service because of weak center section. So it was a ticking time bomb waiting to fail. These were taken out of service in the late 1950's when the B model came out to replace it. I was a mechanic at Edwards AFB CA in 1964 on a A model and it was flown to be scrap at Davis Monith in the desert. Last one in military service that I know of.
@@pillettadoinswartsh4974 This had nothing to do with the Air Guard, there was a different crash of a North Carolina ANG C-130 fighting a wildfire in South Dakota in 2013. He posted or tagged it with the 2003 crash. Well done story just the same.
A model C-130s were still flying in Vietnam and I’m pretty sure in the US in the early 70s. There was a fix for the center wing problem on both the C-130s and the C 141s. I was in the regular Air Force from 9-68 to 9-72 on C-130s as a flying Crew Chief. I remember when the 141s had their max speed lowered until they had the new center wing.
@@sterlinghunter9651 In the video, it says a civilian contractor to US Forest Service owns it, the channel owner is not American so he may not know the differences well.
Steven Ray Wass was the captain of N!30HP...I"d flown with him periodically for over 20 years...he was one of my closest friends...My ranch was 6 miles from the crash site, and I watched his last pass...being a fire-fighting pilot is a calculated risk that's a known factor for all of those pilots...as stated in the video; proper maintenance protocols were not implemented due to bureaucratic failures..this accident changed the industry maintenance protocols and retired some of the old x military aircraft used in fire-fighting....God speed Steven Ray Wass...you're missed
I was in high school when this happened and when I saw it on the news I thought “how can a wing just fold up like that?” Now being 42 years old, I k is what happened. Ty for this in depth analysis of what happened. Always quality material here.
@@walt Yes, true, but? The title is still misleading. TMC does such a great job of covering these crashes that the misleading information has no place in their presentations.
They started doing major wing box inspections on all 130's after this crash took place. And many of the older herks were found to have these cracks. I was in C-130 crew chief school when they showed our class this video. I still remember that. Still gives me chills.
I cannot even begin to fathom the sheer terror these heroes endured. The way the airplane completely failed them. You videos, TFC, are getting so great, I'd rather watch these than anything else! You always insert those amazingly helpful things I did not know I needed! The way you described the flight path with the red ribbon was just stellar. You are so so good at this!!
The graphics and simulation of this crash are incredible! One of the best ones so far. How unfortunate for the crew of that plane that they lost their lives because of a series of unfortunate events involving the undetected flaws of the aircraft that they depended on.
I had the honor of working with these guys in 1998. Truly saddens me every time I see this. Whats even sadder is they new at that time the wing spar was cracked. They said they couldn’t get parts for it.
It's strange that there wasn't more concern in 2002 for wing integrity on an older C-130, as Alaska International Air had a wing fold up like this in 1974.
At least it sounds like this wasn't a case of owners skimping on required inspections- the required inspections just weren't enough for that aircraft in that application.
Just 3 pilots trying to make a living doing what we all love to do. “You can do everything right but still get it wrong” As most of us have lost friends or colleagues, it really makes you think back and say…”that could of been me.” These videos are just incredible…..that’s coming from somebody who flew 44 years mostly in 121.
Do you think it was even enough time to register what exactly had happened? I mean they had to know the stabilizer failed or something but there's no way they were fully aware of the entirety of the wings detaching. I'd bet in this case those few seconds were furiously focused on the instrument panel trying to figure out what was happening
Absolutely horrific. And these guys were firefighters, who chose to run toward, not away. They didn't deserve this. There is such a thing as a plane being TOO old!
Gut wrenching watching the actual footage of the passerby as they filmed the wings just fold upwards like that and seeing that aircraft just plummet to the ground
Good job on the story. This is the 2003 Walker California story. Probably just posted the wrong video, or mistitled it. Look forward to see what you did for the 2012 NC ANG incident. Keep up the great work!
Any plane acting as a dive bomber would encounter additional stress on the airframe. It's sad that it didn't have proper maintenance and three well-qualified pilots, who went up to save lives, lost theirs. Jesus said, "The greatest love a man can show is to give his life for his fellow man." I pray they are in the arms of their Savior, where dreams are realized and crashes never happen. Another video well done with graphics and everything.👀👏
At the time of the crash, I lived in the city of Minden, NV, and I knew people that knew the crew. It was such a shock to the whole community. Thank you for covering this tragedy.
Is that cannon fire or are they fighting a canyon fire. The crews last seconds would have been terrifying, they deserved much better than that for the brilliant job they do!
@@jimmyhaley727 C-130s are still being made brand new, a proven aircraft, hardly obsolete. The only problem was with the maintenance procedures after being transferred to another agency. Even then, the agency that acquired this aircraft and transitioned it into a firefighting role used the Air Forces maintenance technical order only leaving out a depot level inspection, but they failed to predict the stresses of the new role they put this aircraft into. Any aircraft airframe with a lot of time
Then the plane would have fallen from the sky during another flight and additional people could have died on the ground. The Grim Reaper only had to wait, his prey was safe.
Yep, so the plane crashes on the next flight, instead. If the next fire is caused by lightning, would that mean god would be guilty of three counts of manslaughter?
I can’t recall the details either, but we do prosecute for setting wildfires that kill people, regardless of whether they were intentional arson or not. In fact, just one year after this fire there were three fires in San Diego County that burned several hundred homes and killed a couple people. They arrested the man who started it. He was a hiker who got lost and decided to start a signal fire to attract rescue helicopters. His fire got out of hand because of the dry and windy conditions. At the time there were no laws that said he could face manslaughter, but since then our laws have been updated to allow that charge.
Amazing video quality!!! People will never know the full tragedies that have happened to the Flyers that fight fires from the air. They are true Heroes!!!
needless deaths, the additional stresses from the role means far more checks needed than std and inaction was the reason this incident occured, Just terrible for the families that they were let down by the very people meant to be looking out for them!
Saw this on the evening News, when I saw it happen on my tv, I just sat down in my chair & wept. Rest well Brave Soul's, you are not forgotten, for you are LEGEND 🙏🙏🙏
@HORSE SIX ZERO Oof, yeah. Lots of digestible information out there on this incident already, both primary and secondary sources. This kind of just comes across as dirty laundry at this point, as it's a bit lazy and disingenuous to the real incident. Not sure why it came up for me on recommendations lol. Air crash accidents will always get clicks regardless of the research and quality. Usually when I read "wow these videos are getting better!" it's just due to a nice freeware or payware X-Plane airport or aircraft featured in the video, and has little to nothing to do with the production itself. IMO this content is kinda snuffy and lowbrow considering I'd think most people watching already have an idea of what happened, and these usually don't offer anything more than what's already available to read or watch.
Just an FYI, the title is wrong, the South Dakota crash happened on June 29, 2012, understandable error since both crashes had C-130 fire fighting planes.
I was at my dads house and the news was on and cried “oh God no! Mike!”. Somehow my dad knew his friend was on that plane and the memory of that shakes me to this day over 20 years later. Mike Davis was also a journeyman pipe fitter that went through the apprenticeship with my dad and was the man responsible for leading my dad to the Lord. I’ve heard stories about Mike my whole life and still think of him to this day every fire season. Fly high Mike and know that you and your crew are remembered
Those poor men. I know this sounds weird, but I’m glad they got video of them doing their job before they went out. I don’t know how to explain why, I just think seeing them make that last drop to help out the firefighters was inspiring. Even flying through blinding smoke can be scary.
Ironically, you’re using Santa Barbara, CA again for some of these scenes. I say ironic because a few weeks before the crash, this aircraft or its sister aircraft was parked on the ramp on the south side of the airport near Mercury Aviation at SBA. I got to take a look inside the plane while it was parked. Pretty rough looking and a lot of unsecured gear in the cargo compartment.
Yeah, I grew up spending most of my summers and after school time working in a hanger on the south side. Used to watch the fire bombers fly out of the air tanker base on the north western ramp. This is back when they were still flying P-2s, P-3s, C-54s and even a PB4Y fighting fires. Pretty amazing how realistic the scenery is on these new flight sims. I can actually pick out buildings in this video that I’ve been in haha.
I'm just a nobody when it comes to aviation, but even to me it seems obvious that there should be extra structural checks on A. an aircraft that old, and B. an aircraft that does maneuvers that cause high stresses to the airframe.
I always wanted to know what happened in that accident. Despite being pretty obvious from the images, I've never seen a report on the causes. Thanks for the great job.
I’ve seen a couple of other accidents caused by doublers hiding stress fractures. As stated in this video those stress fractures could have been detected with imaging when they were as small as 1/2”. Sadly, the doublers prevented those inspections. In the other crash a doubler was improperly installed with only one set of rivets. That was ChinaAir flight 611. The worst part is the repair hid the area where the stress fracture began so it couldn’t be inspected. The plane flew for 22 years with the stress fracture getting longer and longer until the entire tail broke off at 35,000 ft killing 225 people.
A 45 year old plane can have years of service still in it's future but being riddled with metal fatigue issues and cutting corners in maintenance should have grounded this bird. If I remember right, in 2004 the entire air tanker fleet was grounded after another crash.
Yeah this particular company lost two airtankers in 2002 which grounded the entire fleet of c130A and PB4Y-2 tankers and alot of other older model planes indefinitely, that were over the 6,000 hour airframe saftey limit put in place. Hawkins&power Aviation went out of business after that.
@@BiggHogg870 Some of the old DC-4. DC-6, DC-7 & KC-97s probably had in excess of 60,000 or more hours on them. A few of them flew back to Arizona and are scattered in storage there or in Greybull, WY.
What a shame this happened... I remember a large group of C-130's were being NDT checked for fuselage to wing spar , torque box failures, about 19 years ago... This crash and the structural failure that caused it, is one of the main things that prompted those non-routine NDT inspections... The video is heartbreaking, as it becomes very apparent that there was NOTHING the crew could possibly do to prevent themselves from being killed... But all of these types of planes were immediately grounded after the reasons of what caused the crash was determined and the immediate inspections began.... God Bless the brave souls who were on this plane...
Yeah, I was a little confused as well. Especially since the fire was in California and the plane took off from Nevada. Perhaps it crashed on the California / South Dakota border
It should be noted that the subsequent C-130B and later variants had a substantially beefed-up wing structure, which would have prevented this kind of failure. All C-130As were retired not long after this accident, but some C-130Bs are still in air force service worldwide.
Every pilot must have that nightmare that the wings fall off the plane several times a month. For it to actually happen is unbelievable. Another of those crashes that reminds you how critical regular, routine aircraft maintenance is.
Was on that fire. Came off of night shift and bedded down in Coleville. Was in the shower when T- 130 went down. Our Strike Team IA'd the fire started with the crash that was making runs towards the homes in Walker. Horrible day.
The info provided in your description is incorrect. The C130 crash from the Charlotte Air Nation Guard took place in 2012 and was not the crash portrayed in your video.
@God Hand Yep. Different scenario entirely. You're comparing apples with oranges. The 130 in this episode wasn't being flown by the NC ANG; it was being flown by a civilian operator under contract with the US Forest Service.
In January 2020, a US crewed, US registered C130 water bomber crashed while fighting the enormous bushfires that burnt through New South Wales and Victoria. Three crewmen, Capt Ian McBeth, F/O Paul Hudson and F/E Rick DeMorgan Jr lost thier lives trying to save the lives and properties of others, ordinary Australians that day. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. Though they may have been repatriated to their homelands, forever they shall remain Sons of Australia, their spirits forever protected by the arms of every Australian mother. Fly high gentlemen, we the people of Australia are indebted to you.
I flew as a co-pilot for H&P out of Ft. Wainwright Alaska, C-119 fire bombers. They had outstanding mechanics and maintenance rules. I would fly again with H&P .
WHERE did this happen? It says South Dakota in the description then says the A/C departed Nevada and the crash was in California. No Herky can make it from SD to CA in that time frame.
Was wondering the same because something didn’t add up. Maybe the Flight Channel can do a recreation of the events leading up to his video mislabeling error.🤔
The town of Walker, CA is along US-395. In the Walker River Valley. Nice area, very Rocky, and good fishing. The terrain is very steep though. Ground level firefighting is difficult. Aircraft are a wonderful tool.
I know there are many out there, but I have always thought that this and the B52 crash at Fairchild AFB were the two worst plane crashes ever caught on film.
I have over 10,000 hours of Hercules time as a pilot. Most of that time was as a pilot for Saturn/Trans International/Trans America Airlines flying the L-382 double stretch Herc. In the spring of 1973 Saturn Airways lost a Herc due to wing separation over Ohio. All the fleet was grounded. After that accident, every one of the 18 L-382's we flew were inspected at 1800 hour intervals. This included removal of the leading edge, ailerons and flaps. The inspection included X-RAY, Ultra-sound, dye penetrant, in addition to visual inspection. The last Trans America Herc I flew had over 95,000 hours on it. The L-382 was basically the same as an Air Force E model. I can't believe that anyone would expect an A model to do fire fighting without the same kind of inspections required of our airplanes. We had what were know as "A" wings, "B" wings, and "C" wings. All the "A" wings got removed and replaced with "C" wings. The "B" wings got doublers as approved by Lockheed and the FAA. Only the "C" wings continued as built. There was a reason the Air Force parked the A's in the desert.
When I worked for Saturn Airways in the 70's, we had an L100 (civilian C-130) fold it's wings, I guess from Clear air turbulence, at 20,000 feet. It was the same root cause.
I hope we are paying the aircraft maintenance crews as much as Doctors and Pilots. They are responsible for lives and deserve to be compensated for their immense accountability.
I live in South Dakota and was eager to see some history. I have seen the one of the crash in Sioux City, which I remember from when I was a child living in Vermont. This video title says "South Dakota" and the description says "Edgemont, SD", which I know where that it at; I lived near there from 2006-2017, but when the clip begins, it says "Nevada" for a fire that is happening in "California". Can you get that corrected for accuracy, please?
The old bird flew till her wings gave out. Godspeed to the flight crew and condolences to their families. Another informative video from The flight Channel.
Very well put!! that plane was totally shot and the kids inside were expendable.
@@davedave5787 what a piss poor response, did you not see the part where it was a hidden flaw and there were no procedures in writing to identify this type of flaw. No one wants an accident like this. Procedures were updated upon learning of the hidden defect.
This aircraft was not a troop carrier, it was a highly modified spy plane during the cold war,I was a scanner in the7406,flew many missions including in 538, we lost the 1st mission bird in 1958 sn 528, due to mig 17`s,sn were 525 to 541,were the sn of our mission ac,, air crafft flew over grossed du a special waiver. I think 540 or 541 met the same fate as 538, she was a real warrior,servig here country!!
@@douglasw5371 You ignore the FACT that this has happened to other Hercules aircraft. So clearly, there is a common denominator involved. Maybe using an aircraft beyond it's use by date ?
Very well and honorably stated Souvik Roy 👏🏻
An excellent re-creation. No narration, great graphics, and a written explanation of what happened. The music was very appropriate. I wish other sites like yours would stop trying to recreate accidents ( complete with screaming passengers and wide-eyed pilots) and just stick to the facts. You guys do it best.
this channel is amazing
@@blest5132 As long as you know how to read and read quickly! 👌✈️
The show called, "Mayday" is the worst. I really love the show itself but they pulled their actors out of a Crackerjack box.
the thing is this channel tried once to narrate the videos, received bad feedback, and stopped
What sites like this that use flight simulator have screaming passengers??.
N130HP crews
First pilot-Steven Wass, 42, of Gardnerville, Nev
secord pilot-Craig Labare, 36, of Loomis, Calif
Thrid crew-Michael Davis, 59 of Bakersfield
Was looking for their names too, good work. 👍
RIP
Thanks for that.
Then and today, the clip is a of a terrible event to watch. A bit of us passed away with this crew. This event places into a real perspective the great risk all firefighting service real people face. Full gratitude to all of them!
Thank you so much for posting this particular video as it answered a number of questions I've had since this accident happened. Watching this was a bit of an emotional experience for me as the co pilot was my oldest friend and we'd know each other our entire lives. I've seen the footage many times and it's always painful to watch but this added some much needed perspective for me. RIP Craig, I miss you man!
I am sorry for your loss. 😞
My sincere sympathy, I am terribly sorry for your loss. I lost my best friend at the very young age and all these years later still can't forget her. RIP Craig and Halinka
It has been a sweet and sad journey with Flight Channel over the years. The improvements in video and scripting have been amazing. And as a former military and civilian pilot; they have been very emotional to think of the last moments that the pilots and passengers went through in these episodes. These episodes should be part of a safety course for pilots to learn from others experiences. RIP.
I am not a pilot but I have learned quite a bit about the changes that have occurred on airplanes due to crash investigation period but I agree that I always think about the people on these flights and pray for the families
Not only for pilots but for maintenance crew, too.
@@ZsomborZsombibi Roger that!!!!
Rules written with blood in aviation, sadly.
God bless these men who lost their lives.
Yeah, you tell your god what to do! I hear it is a push over.
@@james-faulkner His god could have prevented this. But didn’t.
Come on. I don't believe in his God either but at least appreciate the sentiment. Jackasses
@@james-faulkner well you will the ribbon for the most miserable SOB to comment on this video.
@@james-faulkner God is good. I pray He opens your heart to Him
These guys deserve our respect. They do a tough and dangerous job. My thoughts will always be with them.
As a former wildland firefighter, I have been aware of this incident for years. Interesting to see it at this level of detail.
RIP for the flight crew. I'm thrilled to see the cinematic scenes return to the beginning of these videos and this one in particular is a masterpiece. The angles and digital effects (directional red, green lines) are an improvement I didn't know I'd appreciate so much. Excellent work. Wow
And anybody who has see those planes drop the fire retardents on the side of a hill, or mountain.... Those planes seriously dive bomb down following the contour of the land. It amazes me every time I see it.
And that dive bombing is why the airframes are needing more maintenance checks because it's stressing it more than it would ordinarily, never mind on craft that have significant hours on them/age.
@@ynotnilknarf39 oh I know. I was just pointing out that these pilots go above and beyond, putting their lives on the line to save others. Becuase they know what could happen, pushing the aircraft like that.
@@righty-o3585 yeah, just linking your comment re the 'dive-bombing' to why those stresses increase. All good.
@@ynotnilknarf39 😁👍
These birds are just too old for this, without a level of rebuild that would be uneconomical in the first place.
What an awful situation. The old lady's bones gave up. RIP to the team who flew her.
The c141 starlifter overlapped with hercules .It was 1961in 1981 when I worked on them. They had turbofan engines instead of 4 props. They had me change wingbolts after 6000 flying hours. Its dark inside the wing and hot, you must crawl on belly or hands and knees. A guy I trained was clostrophobic and almost lost it in there when the flashlight dimmed. You could suffocate in there. Some mechanics will not go in there. Very little space in the T tail also. A skinny ladder and skimpy light. Im sure things have improved by now somewhat.
Her bones could have been replaced during the 80s when Lockheed recommended to replace the center wing box, exactly where the wings folded up. But because she was a C-130A, the USAF didn't do anything.
Spent most of my life on C130s, the older models were known for having weak wing boxes the later models the boxes were changed. this was an older 130 and the box failed..If I had to guess I would think it pulled too many Gs to often...it most likely had a crack that could have been seen if somebody had crawled down into the wing...
Could not see the crack from where the skin was replaced on the fuselage and wing, the only way to detect it would have been through x-ray.
The answer is on the video.
I don't believe that's the entire answer. Can't you get inside the wing box on a C130? We did all the time on the C141 during ISO to look specifically for cracks in the wing box.
@@HandFromCoffin Herc's have a center dry bay, but don't believe this could have been found anywhere other than depot level. Which these planes did not have in their maintenance program.
We now have a zonal where we inspect wingbox screws for corrosion in iso at our hangar. (Should add on top of the ndi and sheet metal inspections) There are many that are incredibly corroded under the carc paint unfortunately.
I think it’s important to point out this was NOT an Air National Guard C-130. This Herc had been retired before being acquired as surplus and converted to a tanker and operated by a private company.
And nor did it crash in South Dakota, but in California: I think the poster may be thinking of a firefighting C130-C3 which crashed in the Black Hills in July 2012 with the loss of four lives (two survivors).
Yeah, all through the video I was expecting to learn how the old and retired 'A' model had somehow been reacquired by the Air Guard from a private company.
I think there is a separate video for the Air Guard crash your thinking of... but it does look like there might be some mix ups in this video still. Not really sure as I am just looking at articles now.
@@JAF30 I believe TheFlightChannel changed the name of the video after several viewers pointed out the error. The original name included ANG C-130, which obviously this was not.
@@williamengland6950 Ah, this is why I love channels like this, not afraid to fix things if they make a mistake.
If something is made in 1957 and retired in 1978...and then resurrected and flown up to 2002...you don't need a maintenance program to tell you that there are cracks on the frame. RIP guys
The military has NDI, non destructive Inspection which entails x-rays of internal parts where you may not SEE a crack. Metal stress can be evasive to the naked eyes or hands. Thats how we knew a vertical stabilator had to be changed. Internal cracks. Remove 20000 screws with a speedhandle, then put the new one on.No ratchet on aircraft. We had to r&r a wing also. Alot of handwork with a crane for balance.
These guys are heroes. I live in a very similar geographical area further south of the Mojave Desert, and when we see the tankers drop fire retardant - we're grateful. Living in these areas gives us beautiful views of nature, but we're getting so many fires lately. The pilots and crews have our eternal gratitude.
I was on a UK Airworthiness committee some years ago and we were all concerned with the C130. Because of its age it never had a full scale airframe fatigue test as is required of more modern airframes. The airframes were then upgraded over time rather like grandfather's axe and so it was very hard to establish the airframe fatigue useage.
I love the c130, in fact I’m wearing Hercules earrings right now, but I worry about that more and more with each of these incidents
i always thought fat alberts were nearly indestructible
Grandfather's Axe? Is that a similar analogy to "Trigger's Broom" (from the sitcom Only Fools and Horses)? "I've had the same broom for 20 years. It's only had 17 new heads and 14 new handles!"
@@krashd Yup but a saying long before Trigger thought of it.
I was a lead mechanic on a couple of C-130's I can tell you what inspection card they failed to do. The Center wing box bolts and holes required like every D check. You no load the wings on jacks and inspect every bolt hole and we simply replaced all the bolts and hardware. If that aircraft failed that inspection it was a one time trip to the bone yard in Arizona. DMAFB.
These uploads are getting better and better everytime. Such a high quality content! Thank you for that!
Not an ANG aircraft- Hawkins and Powers at the time of the crash.
The description and title of this video are off by a decade. They need to be edited.
The C-130A operated by H&P that is subject of this video crashed following fatigue crack induced wing box failure on June 17, 2002 in California.
A completely separate aerial firefighting C-130 mishap happened on 1 July 2012.
This one involved a NC ANG MAFFS equipped C-130H3 (93-1458).
This fatal mishap occurred in South Dakota while fighting the White Draw Fire.
The investigation revealed that microburst conditions were present on the retardant drop run that overcame the performance of the aircraft to climb away from terrain. The MP, MC, MN and MFE were fatally injured. The two MLs were injured, but survived.
Interestingly enough, 30 days after this C-130A fatal mishap in 2002, another H&P aircraft suffered an inflight breakup while participating in aerial firefighting.
On July 18, 2002, N7620C, a Consolidated PB4Y “Privateer”, callsign Tanker 123, suffered an overload failure of the left wing, just inboard of the #2 engine. The aircraft was dropping retardant on the Big Elk fire outside of Lyons, CO.
This resulted in the deaths of the two pilots and led to the ultimate demise of Hawkins and Powers operations at GreyBull, WY. Following these two fatal mishaps, the USFS and BLM halted contract fixed wing firefighting aircraft while a BlueRibbon panel investigated the maintenance practices of H&P.
You are correct. The C130 crash from the 145th crashed in 2012... I personally knew many on that flight but there were survivors. I hope this description is corrected.
If it was, then I'm willing to bet that the cracks would have been found during depot maintenance. You would think that you wouldn't want to cut corners with extremely high stress missions like firefighting, but hindsight is a bitch I suppose.
@@golds3882
The cracks in both cases would have been discovered with X-ray or eddy current NDT.
It’s not so much that H&P were cutting corners, but more a lack of oversight on the part of FAA and USFS to ensure that H&P’s CAMP was robust enough to ensure wing box and spar NDT inspections occurred at appropriate times commiserate with their flight profiles.
Both aircraft clearly needed a heavy check similar to a USAF depot level inspection at a shorter interval than what they were getting.
Of course, everything is clearer with the benefit of hindsight.
I remember watching footage of this accident in the news right after it happened. Tanker pilots fly very dangerous missions just to keep us safe from annual wildfires. They often have to fly very close to the terrain, with smoky and wind-whipped conditions, to drop the retardant on hot spots. I can see this adding stress to the airframe as time progresses. I’m glad more diligent maintenance standards were put in place. Also, today more modern planes and helicopters are used for the drops. 747s were used to drop retardant on fires in Napa and Sonoma valleys in recent years.
there weren't put in place until far too late, that was the problem, delays as usual to act by the authorities and people lost their lives as a consequence!
@@ynotnilknarf39 They’ve got to change the way they manage fires, imho.
that must have been a terrifying, agonizing final few seconds knowing theres nothing to be done. RIP to the crew.
Losing both wings, imagine… 💭
Like flying a sewer pipe.
That airplane is not a Guard airplane that is a civilian plane. It is a A model that should have never been flying. They were taken out of service because of weak center section. So it was a ticking time bomb waiting to fail. These were taken out of service in the late 1950's when the B model came out to replace it. I was a mechanic at Edwards AFB CA in 1964 on a A model and it was flown to be scrap at Davis Monith in the desert. Last one in military service that I know of.
I think they meant "a C-130 owned and operated by the National Guard"
@@pillettadoinswartsh4974 This had nothing to do with the Air Guard, there was a different crash of a North Carolina ANG C-130 fighting a wildfire in South Dakota in 2013. He posted or tagged it with the 2003 crash. Well done story just the same.
Good info.
A model C-130s were still flying in Vietnam and I’m pretty sure in the US in the early 70s. There was a fix for the center wing problem on both the C-130s and the C 141s. I was in the regular Air Force from 9-68 to 9-72 on C-130s as a flying Crew Chief. I remember when the 141s had their max speed lowered until they had the new center wing.
@@sterlinghunter9651 In the video, it says a civilian contractor to US Forest Service owns it, the channel owner is not American so he may not know the differences well.
Steven Ray Wass was the captain of N!30HP...I"d flown with him periodically for over 20 years...he was one of my closest friends...My ranch was 6 miles from the crash site, and I watched his last pass...being a fire-fighting pilot is a calculated risk that's a known factor for all of those pilots...as stated in the video; proper maintenance protocols were not implemented due to bureaucratic failures..this accident changed the industry maintenance protocols and retired some of the old x military aircraft used in fire-fighting....God speed Steven Ray Wass...you're missed
My condolences.
I was in high school when this happened and when I saw it on the news I thought “how can a wing just fold up like that?” Now being 42 years old, I k is what happened. Ty for this in depth analysis of what happened. Always quality material here.
Sorry I was in college Lol whoops
I was in diapers. Still Am.
@@macattack14778 😂
What's up with the title? Not an Air National Guard C-130 nor did it crash in South Dakota in this video. That was a different incident in 2012.
@@walt Yes, true, but? The title is still misleading. TMC does such a great job of covering these crashes that the misleading information has no place in their presentations.
@@walt He means that the other incident was from 2012, not this one.
@@walt no kidding.
I'm thinking just an honest mistake
They started doing major wing box inspections on all 130's after this crash took place. And many of the older herks were found to have these cracks. I was in C-130 crew chief school when they showed our class this video. I still remember that. Still gives me chills.
I cannot even begin to fathom the sheer terror these heroes endured. The way the airplane completely failed them.
You videos, TFC, are getting so great, I'd rather watch these than anything else! You always insert those amazingly helpful things I did not know I needed! The way you described the flight path with the red ribbon was just stellar. You are so so good at this!!
The graphics and simulation of this crash are incredible! One of the best ones so far. How unfortunate for the crew of that plane that they lost their lives because of a series of unfortunate events involving the undetected flaws of the aircraft that they depended on.
I had the honor of working with these guys in 1998. Truly saddens me every time I see this. Whats even sadder is they new at that time the wing spar was cracked. They said they couldn’t get parts for it.
It's strange that there wasn't more concern in 2002 for wing integrity on an older C-130, as Alaska International Air had a wing fold up like this in 1974.
At least it sounds like this wasn't a case of owners skimping on required inspections- the required inspections just weren't enough for that aircraft in that application.
I'm also glad that the crash had nothing to do with the pilots. They went out to do a job but their plane came apart.
Just 3 pilots trying to make a living doing what we all love to do. “You can do everything right but still get it wrong”
As most of us have lost friends or colleagues, it really makes you think back and say…”that could of been me.”
These videos are just incredible…..that’s coming from somebody who flew 44 years mostly in 121.
That must have been a terrifying last few seconds, stuck with nothing you can do but ride it out.
It was all over in about three or four seconds.
@@badmonkey2222 scary last three or four seconds.
@@blazinthat7439 no doubt
Do you think it was even enough time to register what exactly had happened? I mean they had to know the stabilizer failed or something but there's no way they were fully aware of the entirety of the wings detaching. I'd bet in this case those few seconds were furiously focused on the instrument panel trying to figure out what was happening
I remember seeing this on the News the day after it happened. That footage was shown all over the planet in a single day.
Gosh the wing fold video took my breath away... Damn.
Absolutely horrific. And these guys were firefighters, who chose to run toward, not away. They didn't deserve this. There is such a thing as a plane being TOO old!
Gut wrenching watching the actual footage of the passerby as they filmed the wings just fold upwards like that and seeing that aircraft just plummet to the ground
Good job on the story. This is the 2003 Walker California story. Probably just posted the wrong video, or mistitled it. Look forward to see what you did for the 2012 NC ANG incident. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for posting this comment. Perhaps the moderators of this channel will see it and post the incident you mention.
Any plane acting as a dive bomber would encounter additional stress on the airframe. It's sad that it didn't have proper maintenance and three well-qualified pilots, who went up to save lives, lost theirs. Jesus said, "The greatest love a man can show is to give his life for his fellow man." I pray they are in the arms of their Savior, where dreams are realized and crashes never happen.
Another video well done with graphics and everything.👀👏
If pilots don't do stuff like this. Then there would be no well qualified pilots. Not really the pilots fault
@@bernardberben4852, true that.
No, Patricia, this is the Cannon Fire.
@@sludge4125, now I'm confused. I wasn't able to find that as googling it brings up the gun.
Oh, it was a person! It started at the Cannon family house. Sorry, my bad.🙁
At the time of the crash, I lived in the city of Minden, NV, and I knew people that knew the crew. It was such a shock to the whole community. Thank you for covering this tragedy.
I remember watching the plane crash video as a kid, very sad rip everyone on board
Yup, i was getting ready to go to school and the news aired the plane just dropping out of the sky. Never could forget it.
Is that cannon fire or are they fighting a canyon fire.
The crews last seconds would have been terrifying, they deserved much better than that for the brilliant job they do!
Cannon was the name of the fire
Never Ever fly obsolete aircraft of this size,, just another ticking bomb
@@jimmyhaley727 C-130s are still being made brand new, a proven aircraft, hardly obsolete. The only problem was with the maintenance procedures after being transferred to another agency. Even then, the agency that acquired this aircraft and transitioned it into a firefighting role used the Air Forces maintenance technical order only leaving out a depot level inspection, but they failed to predict the stresses of the new role they put this aircraft into.
Any aircraft airframe with a lot of time
Was just going to ask the same thing but glad I read down thru comments :) If it were cannon fire, I wouldn't expect the plane to just fly toward it!
@@EncrypticMethods except the his wasn't new, this was 45 years old at the time.
Whoever set that fire is guilty of 3 counts of manslaughter. It's disappointing they never made an arrest.
Then the plane would have fallen from the sky during another flight and additional people could have died on the ground. The Grim Reaper only had to wait, his prey was safe.
I don't know the details of this fire but the video stated it was caused by man however didn't specify accidental or intentional.
Yep, so the plane crashes on the next flight, instead.
If the next fire is caused by lightning, would that mean god would be guilty of three counts of manslaughter?
I can’t recall the details either, but we do prosecute for setting wildfires that kill people, regardless of whether they were intentional arson or not. In fact, just one year after this fire there were three fires in San Diego County that burned several hundred homes and killed a couple people. They arrested the man who started it. He was a hiker who got lost and decided to start a signal fire to attract rescue helicopters. His fire got out of hand because of the dry and windy conditions. At the time there were no laws that said he could face manslaughter, but since then our laws have been updated to allow that charge.
@@opwave79 The same man started all three fires?
this is the only cameraman on this planet who does not shake his camera on the most important part.
Or film in portrait mode
OOh, this made me cry. The crew died as heroes trying to fight that fire. Love and prayers to all of their families!!
Amazing video quality!!!
People will never know the full tragedies that have happened to the Flyers that fight fires from the air.
They are true Heroes!!!
This "Tragic and Sad" story very clearly illustrates why man-made machines all ways have have a"life span".
And sadly it was very much past its life span. By decades if you ask me.
All machines have a life span, regardless if it's designed by humans or not.
@@DJSbros can you name one machine not designed by man?😂
@@gwag8410 The human body is one. I feel your definition of machine might be a tad narrow.
The failures and delays of both the NTSB and FAA need to be looked at and examined and then changed! RIP to all three crew members.
needless deaths, the additional stresses from the role means far more checks needed than std and inaction was the reason this incident occured, Just terrible for the families that they were let down by the very people meant to be looking out for them!
The one thing is that it was over before they even realized what was happening two or three seconds of pure terror and it's over. RIP
Your channel is just getting better and better…!! R.I.P. to the three men that lost their lives….🇺🇸
Saw this on the evening News, when I saw it happen on my tv, I just sat down in my chair & wept. Rest well Brave Soul's, you are not forgotten, for you are LEGEND 🙏🙏🙏
Flight Channel’s thorough research and amazing video graphics are fantastic. Bless the memories of these honorable men.
@HORSE SIX ZERO Oof, yeah. Lots of digestible information out there on this incident already, both primary and secondary sources. This kind of just comes across as dirty laundry at this point, as it's a bit lazy and disingenuous to the real incident. Not sure why it came up for me on recommendations lol. Air crash accidents will always get clicks regardless of the research and quality.
Usually when I read "wow these videos are getting better!" it's just due to a nice freeware or payware X-Plane airport or aircraft featured in the video, and has little to nothing to do with the production itself. IMO this content is kinda snuffy and lowbrow considering I'd think most people watching already have an idea of what happened, and these usually don't offer anything more than what's already available to read or watch.
@HORSE SIX ZERO You can't plagiarize facts.
Just an FYI, the title is wrong, the South Dakota crash happened on June 29, 2012, understandable error since both crashes had C-130 fire fighting planes.
I was at my dads house and the news was on and cried “oh God no! Mike!”. Somehow my dad knew his friend was on that plane and the memory of that shakes me to this day over 20 years later. Mike Davis was also a journeyman pipe fitter that went through the apprenticeship with my dad and was the man responsible for leading my dad to the Lord. I’ve heard stories about Mike my whole life and still think of him to this day every fire season. Fly high Mike and know that you and your crew are remembered
Tragedy. Three heroes, and a beautiful ship with a noble mission. GOD SPEED.
Another quality video from The Flight Channel. Great analysis of the incident without narration. RIP to those 3 lost souls.
Those poor men. I know this sounds weird, but I’m glad they got video of them doing their job before they went out. I don’t know how to explain why, I just think seeing them make that last drop to help out the firefighters was inspiring. Even flying through blinding smoke can be scary.
My Dad was a firefighter in houses, buildings. That's scary and smoky, unpredictable enough. Imagine doing it plus flying the airplane too?
Ironically, you’re using Santa Barbara, CA again for some of these scenes. I say ironic because a few weeks before the crash, this aircraft or its sister aircraft was parked on the ramp on the south side of the airport near Mercury Aviation at SBA. I got to take a look inside the plane while it was parked. Pretty rough looking and a lot of unsecured gear in the cargo compartment.
Yep, I noticed the tower from UCSB there. For a few decades there was an firefighting aircraft contingent based out of the SBA airport.
Yeah, I grew up spending most of my summers and after school time working in a hanger on the south side. Used to watch the fire bombers fly out of the air tanker base on the north western ramp. This is back when they were still flying P-2s, P-3s, C-54s and even a PB4Y fighting fires.
Pretty amazing how realistic the scenery is on these new flight sims. I can actually pick out buildings in this video that I’ve been in haha.
I hate it whenever planes crash inverted. It seems even worse/scary to me. I want to go down Air France 447 style, right on the belly.
Don't!
I'm just a nobody when it comes to aviation, but even to me it seems obvious that there should be extra structural checks on A. an aircraft that old, and B. an aircraft that does maneuvers that cause high stresses to the airframe.
Very sad to see the C130A run out of wings, the investigation honored the memory of these crew who were fighting the fire. deserve our respect.
Salute to the 3 crew members who survive the crash and people died.
RIP those on board. These videos hit different. Title is off tho
The Flight Channel strikes again! Excellent video and so sad for the pilots who lost their lives and their families
Imagine being the person that caught that on vision 🎥
Wow got here quite early.. keep up the nice work btw, been watching the channel for almost 4 years now
I always wanted to know what happened in that accident. Despite being pretty obvious from the images, I've never seen a report on the causes. Thanks for the great job.
I’ve seen a couple of other accidents caused by doublers hiding stress fractures. As stated in this video those stress fractures could have been detected with imaging when they were as small as 1/2”. Sadly, the doublers prevented those inspections.
In the other crash a doubler was improperly installed with only one set of rivets. That was ChinaAir flight 611. The worst part is the repair hid the area where the stress fracture began so it couldn’t be inspected. The plane flew for 22 years with the stress fracture getting longer and longer until the entire tail broke off at 35,000 ft killing 225 people.
A 45 year old plane can have years of service still in it's future but being riddled with metal fatigue issues and cutting corners in maintenance should have grounded this bird. If I remember right, in 2004 the entire air tanker fleet was grounded after another crash.
Yeah this particular company lost two airtankers in 2002 which grounded the entire fleet of c130A and PB4Y-2 tankers and alot of other older model planes indefinitely, that were over the 6,000 hour airframe saftey limit put in place. Hawkins&power Aviation went out of business after that.
@@BiggHogg870 Some of the old DC-4. DC-6, DC-7 & KC-97s probably had in excess of 60,000 or more hours on them. A few of them flew back to Arizona and are scattered in storage there or in Greybull, WY.
Nah...once over 20-25 yrs...they need to be replaced.
Those poor pilots. My heart goes out to them. NEVER saw wings just snap off a plane like that. :(
What a shame this happened... I remember a large group of C-130's were being NDT checked for fuselage to wing spar , torque box failures, about 19 years ago... This crash and the structural failure that caused it, is one of the main things that prompted those non-routine NDT inspections... The video is heartbreaking, as it becomes very apparent that there was NOTHING the crew could possibly do to prevent themselves from being killed... But all of these types of planes were immediately grounded after the reasons of what caused the crash was determined and the immediate inspections began.... God Bless the brave souls who were on this plane...
Flight Channel videos are top notch to the very last detail,the sun refection on the cockpit as the plane was going down has nailed it
Title of the video says "...Crashed in South Dakota". The video itself says "Crash of Tanker 130 in California".
There was a South Dakota C-130 crash (in 2015 I think) and that's probably what they were thinking of when they mis-titled this.
Yeah, I was a little confused as well. Especially since the fire was in California and the plane took off from Nevada. Perhaps it crashed on the California / South Dakota border
It should be noted that the subsequent C-130B and later variants had a substantially beefed-up wing structure, which would have prevented this kind of failure. All C-130As were retired not long after this accident, but some C-130Bs are still in air force service worldwide.
That poor crew! Unsung heroes! Excellent job on the video man just such an amazing job you do! Thank you!
Every pilot must have that nightmare that the wings fall off the plane several times a month. For it to actually happen is unbelievable. Another of those crashes that reminds you how critical regular, routine aircraft maintenance is.
So a faulty damaged aircraft killed 3 men….So so sad…God Bless these 3 men & their families😢🙏🏻
Remember seeing this when it happened. Note - the C-130 displayed in the animation is an H model variant, not an A model.
Was on that fire. Came off of night shift and bedded down in Coleville. Was in the shower when T- 130 went down. Our Strike Team IA'd the fire started with the crash that was making runs towards the homes in Walker. Horrible day.
I remember this crash. I was firefighting for Alaska Fire Service that year. I want to say there was another 'air support' crash that same summer.
The background music and real footage of crash.. what a painful moments. The heroes gave lives for welfare of local people. RIP
I was there at the time and when them crashed i feel so Respect to them, What a truly hero😣...
The info provided in your description is incorrect. The C130 crash from the Charlotte Air Nation Guard took place in 2012 and was not the crash portrayed in your video.
@God Hand Yep. Different scenario entirely. You're comparing apples with oranges. The 130 in this episode wasn't being flown by the NC ANG; it was being flown by a civilian operator under contract with the US Forest Service.
In January 2020, a US crewed, US registered C130 water bomber crashed while fighting the enormous bushfires that burnt through New South Wales and Victoria. Three crewmen, Capt Ian McBeth, F/O Paul Hudson and F/E Rick DeMorgan Jr lost thier lives trying to save the lives and properties of others, ordinary Australians that day. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. Though they may have been repatriated to their homelands, forever they shall remain Sons of Australia, their spirits forever protected by the arms of every Australian mother. Fly high gentlemen, we the people of Australia are indebted to you.
What a beautiful note. Tbank you for the sincerity and thoughtfulness. Tears in my eyes.
@@rondav8008 Thank you from all Australia.
I flew as a co-pilot for H&P out of Ft. Wainwright Alaska, C-119 fire bombers. They had outstanding mechanics and maintenance rules. I would fly again with H&P .
WHERE did this happen? It says South Dakota in the description then says the A/C departed Nevada and the crash was in California. No Herky can make it from SD to CA in that time frame.
Was wondering the same because something didn’t add up. Maybe the Flight Channel can do a recreation of the events leading up to his video mislabeling error.🤔
The town of Walker, CA is along US-395. In the Walker River Valley. Nice area, very Rocky, and good fishing. The terrain is very steep though. Ground level firefighting is difficult. Aircraft are a wonderful tool.
Impressive work! Vids keep getting better and better...
I know there are many out there, but I have always thought that this and the B52 crash at Fairchild AFB were the two worst plane crashes ever caught on film.
I have over 10,000 hours of Hercules time as a pilot. Most of that time was as a pilot for Saturn/Trans International/Trans America Airlines flying the L-382 double stretch Herc. In the spring of 1973 Saturn Airways lost a Herc due to wing separation over Ohio. All the fleet was grounded. After that accident, every one of the 18 L-382's we flew were inspected at 1800 hour intervals. This included removal of the leading edge, ailerons and flaps. The inspection included X-RAY, Ultra-sound, dye penetrant, in addition to visual inspection. The last Trans America Herc I flew had over 95,000 hours on it. The L-382 was basically the same as an Air Force E model. I can't believe that anyone would expect an A model to do fire fighting without the same kind of inspections required of our airplanes. We had what were know as "A" wings, "B" wings, and "C" wings. All the "A" wings got removed and replaced with "C" wings. The "B" wings got doublers as approved by Lockheed and the FAA. Only the "C" wings continued as built. There was a reason the Air Force parked the A's in the desert.
When I worked for Saturn Airways in the 70's, we had an L100 (civilian C-130) fold it's wings, I guess from Clear air turbulence, at 20,000 feet. It was the same root cause.
"Fire is a living thing. It breathes, it eats. It hates..."
This is a heartbreaking story. RIP you guys.
Another sad story, and again, very well recounted, Thank you TFC. 👏🏻⭐️
I hope we are paying the aircraft maintenance crews as much as Doctors and Pilots. They are responsible for lives and deserve to be compensated for their immense accountability.
This is one of the saddest cases ever. Thank you all for risking your lives for others.
Two errors in the title, that need to be corrected:
1) it wasn't an ANG aircraft
2) it crashed in California, not South Dakota
The "Intended Run" graphic is awesome!
God pray that these men, who sacrificed their own lives to fight fires, may rest in peace by your side
I remember seeing this on the news; so sad. To this day watching it still breaks my heart.
I live in South Dakota and was eager to see some history. I have seen the one of the crash in Sioux City, which I remember from when I was a child living in Vermont. This video title says "South Dakota" and the description says "Edgemont, SD", which I know where that it at; I lived near there from 2006-2017, but when the clip begins, it says "Nevada" for a fire that is happening in "California". Can you get that corrected for accuracy, please?