Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Aubeery, California 93062
Wednesday, August 23, 1995 15:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The tanker pilot was approaching the drop area when the copilot saw some static lines in front of the windscreen and alerted the pilot flying the aircraft. The pilot then dove below the lines before collided with them, severing the top 1/3 of the vertical stabilizer. Visibility was reported by those in the operation as good with some smoke from the fire which they considered not a factor. All pilots were advised of wires in the area and some had the lower set of lines in view. None of the pilots involved in the operation were aware of the higher set of lines 150 feet above the lower set, which were 140 feet above the ground. The other pilots following the accident aircraft, now aware of the higher lines, flew below these wires. This was the accident pilot's third pass over the fire area and the pilot was aware of the general terrain from previous operations. These unmarked transmission lines are depicted on the terrain map. However, the height of these lines was not passed on to the pilots, nor did the lead pilot see the higher lines along the tanker's route of flight when he made a clearing pass over the area just before the collision.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the pilot to see and avoid known obstacles along his route of flight. Contributing was the insufficient information given by the pilot in the lead aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/23/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1500 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | AUBEERY |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93062 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 35 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1688 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 24 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 720 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2742G |
| NTSB Number | LAX95TA304 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | DOUGLAS |
| Aircraft Model | C-54G |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | C-54G |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 36089 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 66670 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 33 |
| Airframe Hours | 27975 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AREO UNION CORP |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 100 LOCKHEED AVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | CHICO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95973 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF FORESTRY |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3841 BAZLEY WAY |
| Operator City | MATHER |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 95655 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FAT |
| Departure City | FRESNO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1448 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |