AIR_OPERATIONS_OFFICER ALARM BIRD_DOG_PILOT CAPTAIN_MCBETH CDB CHRIS_JONACH COPILOTE COPILOTE_ACTOR COPILOTE_HUDSON DAN_REESE FIRE_OFFICIAL FLIGHT_ENGINEER_DEMORGAN GPWS INVESTIGATOR JOHN_NANCE KERRI_HUGHES LAURA_HENWOOD LEAD_INVESTIGATOR NARRATION OPERATIONS_OFFICER ROLLS_ROYCE_EXPERT RYAN_MASON WITNESS CDB �The load is away.� WITNESS �Whoa!� DAN REESE �It�s a guttural, visceral loss.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Look at that. Complete destruction.� LAURA HENWOOD �This is a lot of important data that we did not have access to.� BIRD DOG PILOT �I didn�t think it was safe. I rejected the task.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Why was the fire bomber even out there?� CDB �Whoa! Hang on.� COPILOTE �Two thousand feet .� CDB �Copy. Two thousand feet . Let�s make another turn and see what we can see.� RYAN MASON �The majority of aerial firefighters are private companies, and they are contracted by the government.� COPILOTE �Visibility is still pretty bad. I think we�re gonna need a closer look?� CDB �Yeah. I�m gonna take her down to a thousand feet .� COPILOTE �Descending to one thousand feet .� DAN REESE �So they're looking for that sweet spot. They're looking for the perfect drop altitude with the perfect line to be able to drop that retardant right where the firefighter needs it.� RYAN MASON �The Black Summer fires were some of the worst that Australia has seen. New South Wales was the hardest hit state. They suffered a loss of 21% of its alpine vegetation, which encompassed over 68,000 acres of burned area. It challenged everybody in the fire services, in aerial firefighting in ways that they have never been challenged before.� CDB �Descending to 800 feet .� COPILOTE �800 feet .� CDB �Whoa. We�ve got windshear.� COPILOTE �Affirmative.� CDB �Increasing thrust. Climbing.� JOHN NANCE �In aerial firefighting, you�ve got to get very low and very slow and at times you'll all� all of a sudden get hit by a gust that you weren't expecting.� CDB �All right. I think we got her back under control.� RYAN MASON �Aerial firefighting pilots face unique challenges compared to your average, everyday pilot. That's why they are so experienced and so skilled in what they do.� CDB �All right. Can you get us direct to base?� COPILOTE �Heading set for return to Richmond air base.� CDB �Autopilot on. You know what, though? We need to contact Fire Control, and the bird dog. Everybody needs to know that conditions out there are deteriorating rapidly.� COPILOTE �Agreed. A hundred per cent.� DAN REESE �There�s often what's called a bird dog or a lead plane, which is a much smaller aircraft, more nimble, a very experienced pilot who can better assess the drop for the tanker pilot, before the tanker pilot even arrives.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Coulson B-134 en route to Adaminaby.� CDB �Did you hear that? B-134?� CDB �Uh B-134, this is B-137. Do you read?� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Good afternoon, B-137. B-134 reading you loud and clear.� CDB �We just did a drop at Adaminaby. Conditions are very bad. We had some crazy wind, and visibility is really poor. You can go take a look but I�m not going back there.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Copy that, B-137. We�ll assess conditions carefully. Thanks for the warning.� RYAN MASON �Communications in aerial firefighting is an integral part of the overall firefight for weather conditions and changes on the fire ground.� JOHN NANCE �If you were to put together the perfect crew for the type of thing that 134 was fighting, you would get these guys, or somebody exactly like them.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Hoo-boy. There�s that chop B-137 was talking about.� FLIGHT ENGINEER DEMORGAN �And no doubt this wind will be pushing the smoke all over the fire ground.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Visibility is terrible.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Another day at the office, right fellas? Well, let�s take her down to two thousand feet , get a closer look.� RYAN MASON �Aerial firefighters are a unique breed in that they�re highly experienced pilots before they ever get behind the controls of an aerial firefighting aircraft. They are already people who conduct risk assessments. They're people that know how to handle a crisis situation.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Coming around for one more circuit.� DAN REESE �The C-130 is an amazing aircraft. It's a robust, strong airplane that was built to haul and deliver a lot of cargo and a lot of weight. They make wonderful air-tankers.� DAN REESE �Having four big engines on the C-130 like that, it is wonderful to be able to power out of something if you find yourself in a position to be in trouble.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �The 737 crew was dead right. These winds are too crazy. All right. I�m calling this one off. I�ll notify Fire Control. Cooma FCC, Coulson B-134.� AIR OPERATIONS OFFICER �Go ahead, Coulson B-134.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Cooma FCC, conditions at Adaminaby too smoky and windy. There�s no way to make a drop here.� AIR OPERATIONS OFFICER �Copy that, Coulson B-134.� AIR OPERATIONS OFFICER �B-134, we�re sending through coordinates for an alternative target at Peak View. Standby. Your new heading is zero-eight-five.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Copy that, Cooma FCC, zero-eight-five. Proceeding to Peak View.� COPILOTE HUDSON �New heading is set.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �All right, Plan B. Here we go.� JOHN NANCE �When you�ve got a crew assessing the situation and saying it�s a little bit too windy, it�s a little bit too smoky, uh, let�s not drop here, it's a good thing to have the ability to go on to another location.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �All right, let�s see what we�ve got here. There, along that ridgeline. If we aim for the east side.� COPILOTE HUDSON �I see it. Yeah, that could work.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Let�s get a closer look. Starting first circuit now.� DAN REESE �There�s a multitude of factors that air-tanker pilots look at when they go into a fire. We�re talking about the fire behavior. We�re talking about the weather. What are my escape routes like?� CAPTAIN MCBETH �All right, that�s three circuits. I�d say we�re good to drop just east of that ridge there. Agreed?� COPILOTE HUDSON �Yes, sir.� FLIGHT ENGINEER DEMORGAN �Good to go.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Stand-by. Descending towards drop area.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Okay, there�s our line. Release point in sight. Rolling in on final.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Passing through 400 feet . 300 . Standby to drop.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Hang on. Almost there.� JOHN NANCE �Probably the most critical time in this whole process is on the drop because you're losing a lot of weight in the airplane, which means the aerodynamics of the airplane are gonna be different. You're gonna need to climb fast.� COPILOTE HUDSON �We are at 200 feet . Clear to drop.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Dropping. Dropping. Load is away.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Climb thrust, flaps 50.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Flaps 50.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Whoa! Hang on. Come on.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Still not gaining altitude.� FIRE OFFICIAL �Tragically, there appears to be no survivors as a result of the crash.� DAN REESE �The aerial firefighter community is very small and it's a guttural, visceral loss.� FIRE OFFICIAL �If we could just have a minute silence.� CHRIS JONACH �When I got the call that Bomber 134 had crashed, near Cooma, New South Wales � a Hercules, a C-130 is a very reliable airplane and I honestly couldn't believe it.� INVESTIGATOR �So how far is the crash site from Cooma?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �About 35 miles northeast, near Peak View. INVESTIGATOR �Oh I know that area. That�s pretty remote.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �It�s surrounded by brush fires. We�ve a few teams dispatched to the area.� LAURA HENWOOD �It was located on a single direction access road that was impacted by fire a number of times during our on-site activities.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �So, the firebomber is a modified C-130. What do we know about its history?� INVESTIGATOR �All right. Here�s the certificate of airworthiness. Looks like everything�s in accordance with FAA standards.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �And according to the aircraft specs, it was converted to fire bomber in 2018. Since then, it�s accrued 683 hours of firefighting operations.� INVESTIGATOR �And it had an inspection just yesterday.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Any issues?� INVESTIGATOR �Nothing significant.� KERRI HUGHES �A review of the aircraft's maintenance logbooks and worksheets showed that there was no pre-existing defects prior to the flight departing. So we were now looking at something happening during the flight that we had to consider.� INVESTIGATOR �Take a look at this. The C-130 was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder but no flight data recorder. Nor was it required to have one.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Really? Well that makes it more challenging.� LAURA HENWOOD �Where aircraft are fitted with a flight data recorder this gives investigators a huge amount of information that can be used to determine aircraft performance. This is a lot of important data that we did not have access to.� INVESTIGATOR �Thank you.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Look at that.� CHRIS JONACH �The scale of devastation was incredible to see. It was a shocking sight. All that was recognizable while approaching was that tail and the aft section. Everything forward of the back of the wing was in multiple pieces throughout the site.� INVESTIGATOR �So the first point of impact is here. It clipped a tree. Then the wreckage extends all the way up to here.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �It must have come in pretty steep for that kind of damage.� CHRIS JONACH �It was evident that the aircraft had come in quite heavy. We�re talking a lot of energy here.� CHRIS JONACH �Investigating an accident like this, we start to sort of think about what could possibly have gone wrong? Are we looking at an engineering issue here? Are we looking at an operational issue here? Or are we looking, even, at an environmental issue?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �With that level of devastation, we have to consider a structural problem.� INVESTIGATOR �Agreed.� CHRIS JONACH �One of the fundamental things we have to determine, is all the aircraft on the site?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �So the cockpit was torn away and the nose is here.� CHRIS JONACH �We have to locate, effectively, the four corners of the aircraft to determine that all the components of the C-130 were on site.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �There�s evidence of the left wingtip� and the right� and of course, the tail. It�s all there.� CHRIS JONACH �If there had of been an in-flight break up, there would have been pieces of the aircraft that weren't in the wreckage site. They would have been further back along the flight path.� INVESTIGATOR �Look at this. We�ve got retardant at the site.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �So they only released a partial load, which means they were carrying extra weight.� LAURA HENWOOD �Typically the flight crew are trained if they do run into any emergency situation to dump that retardant. This would increase the aircraft�s performance.� INVESTIGATOR �It could be a factor if they were struggling to regain altitude.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Whoa. Hang on. Come on.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Still not gaining altitude.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �We�ve got something.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Eyewitness video from the RFS.� LAURA HENWOOD �We were provided with a witness video, which had captured the last twenty-five seconds of the aircraft�s flight.� WITNESS �He�s got that one. Is he gonna do the other one too? No? Whoa!� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �You see it coming in low. It drops the fire retardant.� INVESTIGATOR �Then it looks like it starts to climb.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Right. And for some reason, it doesn�t regain altitude. All of a sudden�� WITNESS �Whoa!� KERRI HUGHES �The witness videos essentially provided an unedited version of the aircraft's final movement. A short time after the retardant drop, the aircraft became obscured by smoke.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �I think there�s more we can do with this video.� LAURA HENWOOD �Typically, when we receive a witness video, we�re able to use basic photogrammetry on determining the aircraft attitude. In this case, we're using new software that we had just got access to.� KERRI HUGHES �The use of the 3D tracking software allowed us to look at the witness video in a lot more detail. We could look at the aircraft's, uh, attitude. We could look at the pitch and roll angles to get a better sense of what was happening.� INVESTIGATOR �Okay. That�s everything.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �At the beginning of the drop, the pitch is level with a slight left bank.� INVESTIGATOR �It seems pretty normal.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �After the drop, the plane is banked left and pitched up.� INVESTIGATOR �They�re climbing out.� KERRI HUGHES �For ten seconds following the drop, we could see that the aircraft had established a positive rate of climb up to about 170 feet above the drop height.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �And through the remaining images, the plane appears to be sinking. It looks like a stall.� INVESTIGATOR �All the signs are there.� KERRI HUGHES �The witness video showed that the aircraft�s final movements were consistent with an aerodynamic stall in terms of the aircraft stopped climbing and the rolling movement of the aircraft. However, without a flight data recorder, we were unable to confirm with a degree of certainty that the aircraft had stalled.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �The question is Did it stall and, if so, why?� INVESTIGATOR �Excellent. The cockpit voice recorder? Let�s get that to HQ for download, straight away.� KERRI HUGHES �Finding the cockpit voice recorder gave us an opportunity to understand the crew�s communications within the cockpit.� INVESTIGATOR �Thanks for coming in.� CHRIS JONACH �Were the engines operating? Were they operating comparably across all four of them? And is an engine failure why this aircraft stopped flying?� INVESTIGATOR �As you can see, there's pretty heavy impact and fire damage.� ROLLS ROYCE EXPERT �Well, let�s have a look. Have a look at that.� INVESTIGATOR �The compressor blades are badly damaged. And that looks like molten metal.� ROLLS ROYCE EXPERT �All signs of engine ingestion.� CHRIS JONACH �There was a significant explosion and fireball when this aircraft impacted the ground. The evidence of molten metal inside the compressor casing was indicative that the engines were operating when this fireball occurred. The engines had ingested the fire and the broken bits of metal.� INVESTIGATOR �I just got confirmation from our wreckage team the flaps were at 50. That�s the right configuration for climb out.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �So we�ve ruled out engine failure and improper configuration as causes for a stall.� KERRI HUGHES �Normally we would have airspeed and engine parameter data from the flight data recorder, but because we didn't we had to come up with different ways to determine if the aircraft aerodynamically stalled.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Let�s look at the CVR transcript.� INVESTIGATOR �Training exercise? What is this?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �This is not our flight. It looks like it�s from a previous flight in California.� KERRI HUGHES �Nine months prior to the accident flight, the inertia switch had activated during a hard landing. This meant that the recording device stopped recording any further information.� INVESTIGATOR �Okay. According to the equipment list, the C-130 was equipped with two tracking devices The ADS-B and SKYTRAC.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �At the very least, that�ll give us a flight path.� INVESTIGATOR �And perhaps more evidence of a stall.� LAURA HENWOOD �We had to look at alternative ways to start looking at the aircraft performance. This included other real time tracking data that was available to us.� INVESTIGATOR �I�ve got the data.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �So they approach the area at 2000 feet . They complete their first circuit at 1500 feet . Second circuit at 500 feet . Final circuit, 1000 feet .� INVESTIGATOR �They�re doing a proper survey of the situation.� LAURA HENWOOD �This is really to assess the weather conditions at that lower level...� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Okay. So what about the drop itself?� LAURA HENWOOD �...before they drop into the higher risk 200-foot altitude.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �They make the drop at 200 feet , and then they climb up to 370 .� INVESTIGATOR �And they�re at a very low altitude three seconds later.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �What airspeed would the plane have to be flying in order to stall if it was in a climb out configuration?� JOHN NANCE �An airplane has a specific stall speed for specific configurations flaps up, flaps down, and particular weight.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �That�s flaps 50. Weight 131,000 pounds after a partial retardant drop.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �We�ll need to factor in some turbulence near the drop area.� JOHN NANCE �Turbulence introduces the possibility that you're gonna have a sudden updraft or a sudden downdraft and it's going to affect your altitude and your attitude.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �All right. Let�s start with moderate turbulence with a load factor from point 5 Gs to point 99 Gs.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �And severe turbulence up to 1.99 Gs.� KERRI HUGHES �The higher the turbulence the higher your air speed needs to be to ensure that you don't stall.� INVESTIGATOR �All right, that should do it. So in moderate turbulence, the C-130 stall speed is between 101 and 117 knots . In severe turbulence, it�s between 117 and 143 knots .� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Pull up the groundspeed from the tracking data?� LAURA HENWOOD �We didn't have the air speed and therefore had to estimate it based on ground speeds that had been recorded.� INVESTIGATOR �Okay. Groundspeed for the C-130 is 144 knots before they dropped the retardant, increasing to 151 knots before impact.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �All right. Now let�s factor in the windspeed.� LAURA HENWOOD �We knew that they were flying in hazardous environmental conditions, which included gusting and changing wind conditions, and this then posed a challenge for us to determine what the airspeed was.� INVESTIGATOR �That�s the weather at Peak View, less than a mile from the crash site.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �We�ve got a lot of turbulence with winds gusting from the northwest 15, 30, and 40 knots . Pull up the aerial image from the crash site. What direction was the C-130 flying?� INVESTIGATOR �Right after the drop, the C-130 was flying south-south-east.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �With winds from the northwest, that would mean they would have had a tailwind.� INVESTIGATOR �A tailwind as high as forty knots . That�s extreme. It sounds like wind shear.� JOHN NANCE �If you have a sudden tailwind, that�s going to rob you of airspeed and you may have a struggle staying in the air.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �All right, we�ve got the windspeed. Now let�s calculate the airspeed.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Temperature. Atmospheric pressure.� INVESTIGATOR �The airspeed was between 100 and 123 knots in the last 20 seconds of flight.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �There it is. The C-130's airspeed falls within its stall speed in those conditions.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Whoa. Hang on.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Still not gaining altitude.� INVESTIGATOR �Here�s what�s troubling. Many planes experience wind shear events and don�t crash. So why did the C-130?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Looks like some of the Coulson aircraft, like the 737, have an onboard wind shear warning system.� CDB �Oh. We�ve got wind shear.� ALARM �Windshear. Windshear. Windshear.� COPILOTE ACTOR �Affirmative.� GPWS �Terrain. Terrain. Pull up.� JOHN NANCE �Anytime you can put something in the cockpit that is going to give you the capability of identifying windshear, or the potential for windshear, it is a win.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �The C-130 did not have a windshear warning system.� LAURA HENWOOD �The C-130 H model aircraft was built in the early eighties.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Whoa. Hang on.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Windshear.� ALARM �Windshear.� LAURA HENWOOD �They are trained to recognize the onset of windshear through the degradation of the aircraft performance.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Come on. Come on.� KERRI HUGHES �A windshear warning at a higher altitude would have allowed the crews to immediately respond to the situation. But if such a warning occurred at a low altitude, there may not have been sufficient time for the crew to recover.� COPILOTE HUDSON �We�re at 200 feet . Clear to drop.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Dropping. Dropping. Load is away.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Whoa! Hang on. Come on.� COPILOTE HUDSON �Still not gaining altitude.� KERRI HUGHES �If all the retardant had been dumped it would have increased the aircraft's performance by about 50%.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Windshear. Maximum thrust.� LAURA HENWOOD �As a result of flying into a combination of windshear and tailwind at low altitude and a relatively slow speed, the aircraft performance decayed into the stall region�� COPILOTE HUDSON �We�re stalling.� LAURA HENWOOD ��resulting in the aircraft colliding with terrain.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Given the dangerous conditions, why was the firebomber even out there?� KERRI HUGHES �As aerial firefighting is operating within a very dynamic environment, it's important that any new information or changing information is communicated to ensure that the safety of flight and the operation as a whole is maintained to a high standard.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Who knew what and when?� LAURA HENWOOD �There is a large number of individuals at various different locations all with different information.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �There were three planes tasked to Adaminaby on the day of the crash. First, the 737 departs at 1127am.� INVESTIGATOR �And what time did the C-130 depart?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �It departed at 1205pm.� INVESTIGATOR �And the bird dog�s departure? What is it?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �At 1204pm, virtually the same time the C-130 departed, the bird dog declined the task.� KERRI HUGHES �We had learned through the investigation that the bird dog pilot assigned to Adaminaby had rejected that task.� INVESTIGATOR �But why?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Why did you reject the task?� BIRD DOG PILOT �I was in the Snowy Mountains a couple weeks earlier.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �You were able to recover?� BIRD DOG PILOT �Barely. I had to execute an escape maneuver.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �So tell me about the day of the accident.� BIRD DOG PILOT �The forecast and the conditions were even worse. I didn�t think it was safe. I rejected the task. LEAD INVESTIGATOR �You told the Richmond Air Base manager. Did you tell anyone else?� BIRD DOG PILOT �I thought they would inform the other aircraft.� LAURA HENWOOD �The bird dog pilot expected that their decision not to fly and to reject the task based on the weather would be communicated to other crews who were going to operate in that same area.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �They didn�t tell the 737 or the C-130.� INVESTIGATOR �What time did the 737 leave Adaminaby?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �1225pm.� INVESTIGATOR �Did they return to the area?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �It doesn�t look like it. But the conditions were really bad.� The pilot-in-command warned the bird dog of the conditions and that they wouldn�t be returning to the area. LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Well that�s not all. They also reported the situation to Cooma Fire Control.� CDB �Uh Cooma FCC, this is B one-three-seven. Conditions in Adaminaby are dangerous. Cancel all aircraft operating in the area.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �They even radioed the Richmond Air Base.� INVESTIGATOR �Did anyone inform the C-130 of those messages?� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �Not the Richmond Air Force Base, not the State Air Desk. No official body told the C-130 that conditions were worsening.� KERRI HUGHES �While there was a lot of information that was being shared with all the flight crews on that particular day, there were missed opportunities to provide the crew of bomber 134 with a lot more information about what was happening in this area.� LEAD INVESTIGATOR �It looks like the 737 overheard the C-130 on the approach frequency and reached out to them.� CDB �We just did a drop. Conditions are very bad. We had some crazy wind, and visibility is really poor. You can go take a look but I�m not going back there.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Copy that, B-137. We�ll assess conditions carefully. Thanks for the warning.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �The 737 crew was dead right. Cooma FCC, there�s no way to make a drop here.� OPERATIONS OFFICER �Copy that.� AIR OPERATIONS OFFICER �Your new heading is zero-eight-five.� CAPTAIN MCBETH �Copy that Cooma FCC. Zero-eight-five.� INVESTIGATOR �Even though it was the C-130 crew�s decision, they didn�t get a complete picture of the risky conditions they were flying into.� LAURA HENWOOD �The ability of flight crews to make the most informed decision about the safety of continuing these operations in a high-risk environment relies on clear, solid communication of all of the available information, whether that be from local crews and their activities or from task rejections based on previous experience.� RYAN MASON �Aerial firefighting pilots are not reckless individuals. They�re very smart and methodical. This is definitely a brotherhood of pilots and I believe that in aerial firefighting when a pilot's lost, it's not only felt by one person and their family, the families of the pilots, the company, but it's felt throughout the whole industry.� NARRATION New South Wales, Australia. 2020. After dropping a load of fire retardant� � firefighters on the ground witness the unthinkable. A C-130 firebomber crashes, killing all three crewmembers. INVESTIGATORs must determine the cause of the crash within an active fire zone. And they must do it without a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder. But fellow pilots do provide valuable insight. Coulson Aviation B-137 is circling above a wildfire near Adaminaby, Australia. Coulson Aviation is one of the world�s leading aerial firefighting companies. Headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, they operate a fleet of fixed and rotary- wing firefighting aircraft around the world. The crew of the 737 is searching for somewhere to drop four thousand gallons of fire retardant. The 737�s mission is just one battle in a much bigger war. As the crew prepares, they get as low as they can to make a drop. There�s been a rapid change in wind speed and direction. After almost thirty minutes of difficult flying in dangerous conditions, the crew decides not to return to the fire in Adaminaby. The crew sends out a warning about the conditions to the control center and their lead plane. The pilots of the 737 overhear another Coulson aircraft headed to the fire zone they just abandoned. Coulson B-134, a modified Hercules C-130 with a crew of three, is approaching the fire in Adaminaby. The pilot-in-command is 45-year-old Ian McBeth. He�s flown nearly a thousand firefighting missions like this one. The C-130 co-pilot is 42-year-old Paul Hudson, a former U.S. Marine pilot. Forty-three- year-old Flight Engineer Rick DeMorgan is on leave from active duty in the United States Air Force. Now approaching the target area in Adaminaby, the crew descends to 2500 feet and begins a circuit pattern. Despite the other crew�s warnings, McBeth wants to assess conditions for himself. Though the conditions seem dire, a C-130 fire bomber like B-134 is modified for such extreme conditions. C-130 air tankers are retrofitted with structural reinforcements in their fuselage to accommodate tanks that carry more than 16 tons of fire retardant. But no aircraft is invulnerable, and for professional flight crews, safety is a priority. The C-130 is directed to another fire. The C-130 is re-routed to an area 58 kilometers to the east of Adaminaby known as Peak View � a remote area of hills and farmland running up to a mountain ridge. Following standard procedure, the C-130 flies several low altitude circuits over the fire ground. Now all that�s needed is for the C-130 to get in close enough to make a successful drop. The crew of Bomber 134 prepares to drop a load of fire retardant on a wildfire near Peak View, Australia. As soon as the C-130 drops its load of fire retardant� ... the crew tries to regain altitude. But the plane won�t climb. Bomber 134 has crashed into the Australian bush. While investigators wait for updates from the crash site, they look into the plane�s history for anything that could explain the crash. INVESTIGATORs continue to sift through the aircraft�s records. Footage from the New South Wales police gives investigators a bird�s eye view of the severity of the crash. INVESTIGATORs discover that after impact the wreckage slid 600 feet uphill. So what could have caused the devastating crash? Did the Coulson C-130 experience a structural failure prior to crashing violently into the ground? The C-130 did not suffer any kind of structural failure prior to impact. Why didn�t the crew release its remaining fire retardant? Several days after the crash of the Coulson fire bomber, the investigation receives unexpected evidence. A firefighter with the RFS, or Rural Fire Service, captured the final seconds of the C- 130 on video. Will video analysis software provide investigators with more information about how and why the Coulson fire bomber crashed? Will the wreckage of the Coulson C-130 support the ATSB�s theory that the fire bomber stalled? While data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder, or CVR, is processed, investigators examine the engines. An expert from the engine manufacturer, Rolls Royce, assists with the examination. With no CVR or FDR available, investigators turn to what data they do have. ADS-B and SKYTRAC are two onboard positioning systems that transmit the plane�s location and other data to satellites and ground stations in real time. While the tracking data further supports the enhanced witness video, can it reveal if the plane was flying so slowly that it stalled? INVESTIGATORs start by calculating the stall speed of a C-130 on climb out. They factor in different levels of turbulence likely present at the time of the incident. Was the C-130 flying at a stall speed between 101 and 143 knots , causing it to plummet to the ground? To determine if the C-130 was flying at stall speed, investigators examine the groundspeed recorded in the tracking data. Airspeed measures a plane�s speed relative to the air it�s flying though. Wind shear is a sudden change in the wind�s direction or speed, resulting in drastic changes to a plane�s airspeed. At low altitudes, it can be deadly. To calculate the C-130�s airspeed, investigators also factor in other weather data on the day. The team concludes the plane was hit by windshear� INVESTIGATORs examine Coulson�s onboard safety features to determine if their pilots were equipped with a warning system that could have helped them recover from wind shear events. Did the Coulson C-130 firebomber also have a windshear warning system? Coulson believed that their highly experienced pilots would be better able to identify windshear than an onboard warning system. INVESTIGATORs conclude that windshear warning or not, at such a low altitude� � with 25,000 pounds of fire retardant still onboard� � the C-130 firebomber was just too heavy� � and lost too much airspeed from the extreme windshear event. But understanding why the C-130 crashed doesn�t entirely explain the accident. INVESTIGATORs examine the vast communication network involved in monitoring and dispatching firefighters the day the C-130 crashed. What were the pilots told about weather conditions in the drop zones? There was heavy turbulence. The bird dog pilot experienced a downdraft and an uncommanded 30-to-40-degree roll. The Richmond Airbase informed the State Air Desk that the bird dog rejected the task, but did the State Air Desk tell other crews? INVESTIGATORs learn the 737 made multiple efforts to advise others of the dangers in Adaminaby. Despite warnings about the conditions at Adaminaby proving to be correct� � the crew of B-134 was sent to a second location just 10 minutes away at Peak View. If additional sources had warned the C-130 of the conditions in the area, the crew may have rejected the task at Peak View. In the ATSB�s final report, they make many detailed recommendations, including fitting windshear warning systems on all C-130 firebombers. Above all, the ATSB highlights the need for new procedures for making risk-based decisions. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, or ATSB, is alerted to the disaster immediately. Will it explain what could have caused the C-130 to stall? INVESTIGATORs speak to the bird dog pilot to understand why he refused the assignment. The Fire Control Centre in Cooma, Australia, serves as a local base for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. It coordinates firefighting efforts in the area, both on the ground and in the air. The pilot-in-command warned the bird dog of the conditions and that they wouldn�t be returning to the area. � that resulted in a sudden increase in tailwind� � which robbed the plane of vital airspeed and caused it to stall.