Douglas C-54G N2742G

Summary

On 23 August 1995 at about 22:00 local time, a Douglas C-54G registered N2742G, operated by California Dept. of Forestry, was involved in an accident near Aubeery, California, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 August 1995 at 22:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Aubeery, California, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Douglas C-54G

Registration

N2742G

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

California Dept. of Forestry

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fresno → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX95TA304

Nobody was injured.

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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.