A critic of use of former military aircraft to fight fires, says Monday´s crash of a C-130-A in the Sierra Nevada was overdue. Gary Eitel is a pilot and former aviation consultant who questioned the planes´ safety before a congressional subcommittee ten years ago. Eitel says he told officials in the early 1990´s the planes were dangerous, and were not being maintained properly. In Monday´s crash, the wings broke off in flight. Pat Norbury is the Forest Service´s acting national aviation safety manager. She says she was not aware that two one-inch cracks in the wings of that plane were repaired four years ago.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 5:26 pm