Two pilots battling a blaze on Western Australia’s southern coast have managed to free themselves after their Boeing 737 firebomber aircraft crashed.
The national large air tanker crashed at 4.15pm on Monday afternoon while responding to a bushfire in the Fitzgerald River national park, Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (Dfes) said.
The two pilots survived the crash with minor injuries and escaped the aircraft wreckage. They were retrieved by helicopter and conveyed to hospital.
Police received the report of the crash at about 4.40pm, a little over an hour after the aircraft had departed Busselton-Margaret River regional airport.
A bushfire watch and act warning had been issued for the Fitzgerald River national park on Monday morning. The blaze had burnt 900 hectares by the evening, according to ABC Emergency.
The Western Australian government announced in December last year that the Boeing 737 fireliner nicknamed “Phoenix” was the second large air tanker to arrive in Western Australia and would be based in Busselton for the beginning of the fire season.
The fireliner used to fight Californian wildfires was funded by the commonwealth but the Western Australian government was to meet its operational costs during its deployment in WA.
Catherine King, then acting minister for emergency management, said Australia’s aerial firefighting capability would be significantly boosted by the national large air tanker.
“Phoenix is a highly customised Boeing 737 – able to reach anywhere in the country within hours and drop 15,000 litres of fire-retardant or water,” King said.
The tanker, owned and operated by Coulson Aviation, was under contract to the government. In a statement, the company’s CEO Wayne Coulson expressed his gratitude that the two team members walked away from the accident safe.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Dfes will conduct separate investigations into the crash.
The transport safety bureau’s investigators will interview the pilots and witnesses to understand the circumstances of the accident and examine the aircraft wreckage when possible.
A large air tanker crashed in the Snowy Mountains during the black summer bushfires of 2020, killing three American firefighters.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released its report into the incident in August last year, finding the NSW Rural Fire Service sent the aircraft to an area with unfavourable conditions, without aerial supervision, and relied on the pilot to assess the risk without providing all the information required.
