Wrong fuel added before crash of Alaska forestry plane that injured pilot and 3 firefighters, National Transportation Safety Board says

July 20, 2020
Category: Health & Safety

A state plane transporting wildland firefighters crashed near Aniak in late May after the wrong type of fuel was put into the tanks just before takeoff, according to a federal report. Pilot Mark Jordan, of Eagle River, and three Alaska Division of Forestry firefighters were hurt when the Aero Commander 500 Shrike crashed into a large pond in a gravel pit near the Western Alaska town on May 28. …Jordan said he had the Aniak fuel vendor’s ground-service personnel refuel the plane, according to the preliminary report filed by National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brice Banning. The pilot signed the fuel receipt and returned to the cockpit to finish paperwork before departure. …Forestry officials are reviewing the crash to determine if “there is something that we need to do to be safer,” Mowry said. State officials are waiting for the National Transportation Safety Board to complete a final report 

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