 C-130A Tanker 130 owned by Hawkins & Powers of Greybull, WY. as seen circa early 2002 at Union Co. Airport, La Grande, Oregon. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | June 17, 2002 |
| Summary | Structural failure, wing detachment |
| Site | near Walker, California |
| Fatalities | 3 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
 P4Y-2 Tanker 123, at Chester Air Attack Base in the late 1990s | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 18, 2002 |
| Summary | Structural failure, wing detachment |
| Site | near Estes Park, Colorado |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 2 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
In 2002, two large airtankers – a Lockheed C-130 Hercules and a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer – crashed about a month apart while performing aerial firefighting operations. These crashes prompted a review of the maintenance and use of the entire U.S. large airtanker fleet. Ultimately, the whole fleet (33 aircraft in all) was grounded, dramatically reducing the resources available to fight major wildfires. Both aircraft were owned by Hawkins & Powers Aviation of Greybull, Wyoming and operated under contract to the United States Forest Service (USFS). The crashes occurred in one of the worst fire seasons in the last half century, one in which 73,000 fires burned 7.2 million acres (29,000 km2) of land.[1]