McDonnell Douglas DC 10-10 N450AX

Summary

On 26 June 2007 at about 00:20 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC 10-10 registered N450AX, operated by California Dept of Forestry and Fire Protection, was involved in an accident near Tehachapi, California, United States. 3 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

26 June 2007 at 00:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Tehachapi, California, United States

Coordinates

35.0044, -118.5975

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC 10-10

Registration

N450AX

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

California Dept of Forestry and Fire Protection

Operating rule

Public Use

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

SoCal Logistics → Tehachapi

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA07TA181

Nobody was injured.

The captain's failure to maintain clearance from trees.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The transport category airplane had been modified as a firefighting air tanker and was contracted to the State of California under an exclusive-use contract for the fire season. This was the second fire season for the operator, flight crew, and accident airplane. In order to facilitate the availability of the accident airplane, the contracting agency increased the personnel assigned to the program. Normal operational procedures required that a lead airplane fly the intended flight profile prior to the air tanker. The air tanker crew typically views the flight profile flown by the lead airplane, and then flies the profile while following the lead airplane. The lead airplane points out obstacles and general concerns along the flight path to the air tanker during that first flight. On the accident run, the original lead airplane with a pilot specifically trained for the DC-10 fire retardant drop procedures had switched out with a backup lead airplane and pilot in order to return to base for refueling purposes. The backup lead airplane flew the flight profile prior to the accident airplane joining the flight profile for the fire retardant drop. As the captain flew the profile, the accident airplane flew at a lower altitude than the lead airplane, entered a left turn, and impacted multiple trees with the left wing. The digital flight data recorder indicated that the airplane had entered a 35-degree left bank with a vertical acceleration from 0.8 to 1.4 G's, which is consistent with normal loading in a banked turn. Although the flight crew was experienced with the operation of the accident airplane, they had limited fire suppression experience. The operator provided training on the airplane and training in operating in the fire environment. The flight crew obtained the majority of their retardant drop experience (in excess of 100 hours using water for drops) during the certification testing for the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.