French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has called for “serious reflection” on the use of firefighting aircraft following another fatal accident in southern France.
The loss of a Grumman S-2T TurboTracker in the Ardeche region on 20 August came after a similar aircraft had made a forced landing on 19 July, which the pilot survived with slight injuries. The TurboTracker accident is the fourth to a firefighting aircraft in a month, and occurred during one of the worst seasons ever for fires, many of which are started by arsonists.
On 1 August a Bombardier 415 firefighting aircraft broke up during a water bombing run in northern Corsica and both pilots were killed. On 14 August a Dutch pilot flying for a private firefighting company died after his Cessna crashed into the sea after dropping fire-retardant chemicals on a fire near the Mediterranean town of Serignan.
The latest accident, the cause of which remains unknown, has added to concerns about the practice of sending aircraft into the extremely turbulent air above forest fires to drop fire retardants. After the Bombardier crash the aircraft were grounded and structural inspections were carried out, but the amphibian firefighters have since been returned to flight status.
According to reports, the Tracker went down on the edge of a major fire near Valgorge. The pilots, a trainee and an instructor, were both killed. Trackers are used in several parts of the world for firefighting and most were converted from US Navy operational use by de Havilland Canada and Conair.
Both Trackers were operated by the French civil defence squadron based at Marignane, near Marseilles, which has nine S-2Ts remaining.
Source: Flight International
