A Coulson Aviation Boeing 737-300 tanker crashed on Monday during a firefighting mission in Western Australia.
According to a statement from the company, the two pilots on board the aircraft sustained minor injuries and were able to free themselves from the wreckage.
The Boeing 737-300 Fireliner (Registration: N619SW / MSN 28035) departed Busselton-Margaret River Regional Airport (BQB) in Busselton, Western Australia, at 1533 local time on Monday, 06 February. The aircraft was responding to a wildfire in the Fitzgerald River National Park when it went down around 1615 local time.
Fitzgerald River National Park is located on Australia’s southern coast. It is located approximately 285 miles southeast of Perth and 1,800 miles due west of Sydney.
Any Landing You Can Walk Away From is a Good Landing
Local media reports indicate the two pilots were flown from the accident scene by helicopter to a hospital for assessment.
“Both pilots walked away from the crash and have been medically assessed,” Coulson CEO Wayne Coulson said in a social media post on Monday. “Our thoughts and our immediate concern are for those team members and their families. We’re very grateful the two team members on Tanker 139 are safe. We are offering all the support we can to our local and international crews. We’re also grateful for the support being provided by our firefighting and aviation industry colleagues in Western Australia.”
Aerial Firefighting Poses Daunting Challenges
There is no word on the cause of the accident. However, Tim Collins, owner of Perth-based Upstream Aviation, explained the hazardous nature of aerial firefighting to local media.
“The logistics of flying a large aircraft close to the ground in those kinds of conditions is extremely challenging,” Collins told WAtoday. “You’re flying at a fairly low speed; you can’t fly too fast; otherwise, the fire retardant will disappear out the back, and you get severe temperature updrafts and downdrafts and wind shear.”
Collins also added that if the tanker were experiencing a stall, it would have been challenging to recover due to the low speed and altitude of the aircraft.
The Aircraft was on its Third Mission of the Day
According to FlightAware, the last transmitted altitude before crashing was 825 feet, with a speed of 106 knots. It was the tanker’s third mission of the day.
Coluson’s Boeing 737-300 Fireliner is a multi-use aircraft with a load capacity of 4,000 gallons of retardant or up to 72 passengers.
Southwest Airlines took delivery of N619SW in 1995. She would operate at Southwest until 2017 when she began service with Coulson Aviation.
