Fitzgerald River National Park: Large air tanker destroyed in frightening crash while fighting bushfire

Details have emerged of the terrifying crash in the State’s south-east that two pilots miraculously managed to walk away from unscathed, destroying the converted former passenger jet in a big loss to the national firefighting fleet. The Boeing 737 operated by contractor Coulson Aviation crashed in the Fitzgerald River National Park at about 4pm on Monday while battling an out-of-control blaze raging in Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun. The jet, nicknamed Phoenix, was on loan through the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council National Resource Sharing Centre, arriving just before Christmas for its second straight summer in WA. Department of Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said it erupted into flames on impact and incredibly, the two pilots on board managed to free themselves from the wreck. They sustained minor injuries before being airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital and were discharged hours later. Mr Klemm said the pilots were “shaken up” and were recovering at home. “I think understandably they’ve got a few issues to work through ... everybody would understand that. So we’ll give them some space and time,” Mr Klemm told radio. He said the plane, which is capable of carrying 15,000 litres of fire suppressants and has a loaded cruising speed of nearly 800km/h, was in the middle of a drop to strengthen containment lines when a mayday was called. “It had done a split load and that means they dropped half a load and then they come around again to do another load to the other half (of the fire),” Mr Klemm said. “They were dropping retardant trying to build some containment lines around that fire and something’s happened. “That’ll obviously come out in the fullness of time. “(We’re) really interested, as everybody is, to find out exactly what happened but either way, it’s a fairly outstanding effort by the pilots to put the plane down and and be able to walk away from it.” Photos of the horror crash show huge thick plumes of black smoke coming from the wreckage. The DFES Commissioner said the plane sustained catastrophic damage. “I think the aircraft would be a write-off,” he said. “Hitting the ground at the speed they would have been going and given the terrain they had to put the plane down in, it was only understandable it was going to be catastrophic damage to the aircraft, and a resultant fire.” Mr Klemm said he had spoken with NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers, who had agreed to fly over one of the State’s LATs, but its departure would wait while other pilots emotionally and mentally recovered from Monday’s crash. “As you can imagine, they’re all pretty close ... that’s just a part of policy that the Coulson have to make sure their pilots are getting the mental health support they need.” WA still has its own LAT, a C130 Hercules, at Busselton-Margaret River Airport. Shadow emergency services minister Martin Aldridge said flying large water bombing aircraft at low levels was clearly not without risk, noting the crash of a Coulson Aviation C130 in NSW in 2020 that killed three crew members. “It is imperative that the ATSB and CASA, in conjunction with firefighting agencies, immediately review the operations of large air tankers whilst a full and complete investigation is undertaken to ensure firefighter and aviation crew safety,” Mr Aldridge said. A CASA spokesman said oversight of fire-fighting operators was regularly conducted. “We are cooperating with, and providing support to, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation and will act on any new safety information,” he said. ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said the scope of the investigation and its timeframe would be determined as the bureau built its understanding of the nature of the accident. Mr Klemm said LATs were “absolutely” a key part of the fire response effort, responding “I don’t think so” when asked if the contract would be reviewed. LATs had been used extensively in the US and Canada for 15-20 years, he added, and they had been operating in Australia for 7-8 years. Coulson Group chief executive Wayne Coulson said the company was very grateful the pilots were safe and was offering all the support it could to crews. The fire is still at a watch an act level, with efforts to retrieve the remnants of the plane to start once the area is safe. “At some point it’ll get taken out of the National Park and people will have to work through the logistical requirements of that,” Mr Klemm said. Forecast weather looked more favourable until another warm spike on Thursday and Friday, he said. “We’ve sent a larger incident management team down there - there’ll be a lot going on in the next couple of days to battle that difficult weather coming up later in the week.”