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2021-11-18 01:49:19
By Ravi Kumar Image Source: Screen Shot
The pilot of a firefighting aircraft helping to battle a Colorado wildfire was making one final pass over the blaze Tuesday when the plane crashed, killing him, officials said.
Moments before he crashed Tuesday, a pilot flying in an air-tanker over a wildfire burning near Estes Park reported that conditions were turbulent and he planned to return to an airport in Loveland.
Marc Thor Olson, an Army, and Air Force veteran, died after the Air Tractor AT-802A went down about 6:40 p.m., CO Fire Aviation said Wednesday.
He was conducting drops on the Kruger Rock Fire that was burning in steep terrain too dangerous for firefighters near the town of Estes Park, in the mountains west of Loveland, when the plane crashed, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
First responders on the ground then heard the plane, flying a rare nighttime firefighting mission, slam into the ground, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.
A spokesman for a company that owned the plane, CO Fire Aviation, identified the pilot Wednesday as Marc Thor Olson, a former military pilot with extensive experience flying in the dark.
Olson died when his plane went down about 6:30 p.m. in the Hermit Park area near where the Kruger Rock fire was burning just south of Estes Park. The wreckage was discovered about 10 p.m., according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.
"The pilot told ground resources it was turbulent over the fire, conditions were not ideal to make a drop, and that he was going to make one more pass and then return to Loveland," the sheriff’s office said in a statement. "Moments later, at approximately 6:37 p.m., ground resources heard the plane crash."
Olson had more than 8,000 total hours of flying experience, including more than 1,000 hours of flying with night vision goggles, Kyle Scott and Chris Doyle, owners of CO Fire Aviation, said in a joint statement.
“The Co Fire Aviation family is deeply saddened by the sudden, tragic loss of one of our brothers serving as a tanker pilot,” the statement said. The statement said the company was “fully cooperating” with authorities. Olson had been a pilot for more than four decades and previously flew for the Army and Air Force for 32 years.
Olson successfully dropped water over the fire shortly before dark and assessed the conditions, the company spokesman said. After sunset, he loaded up at the Northern Regional Airport in Loveland for another drop and returned to the area as the winds died down.
The mission did not require another aircraft to supervise them and the weather and wind conditions were reported to be within the limits of the company’s standard operating procedures, according to the spokesman.
The sheriff’s office says it reached out to CO Fire Aviation for support midday Tuesday with the hopes of getting ahead of the fire. The sheriff’s office discussed the fire and weather behavior with CO Fire Aviation to make sure they were aware of and comfortable with the conditions, the office said in a statement.
After checking the weather and crosswinds near the fire, CO Fire Aviation told the sheriff’s office they were comfortable making airdrops, according to the sheriff’s office.
Olson left Fort Morgan with a load of water and dropped it on the flames. He reported the wind was “not too bad” and headed to Loveland to get a load of suppressant for a second drop, according to the sheriff’s office.
About an hour later, Olson returned to the fire and told firefighters on the ground that conditions were not ideal and that he would make one more trip over the fire before returning to Loveland. Moments later, at about 6:37 p.m., first responders on the ground heard the plane crash, the sheriff’s office said.
The new details about the deadly crash came as Kruger Rock fire showed little growth overnight after forcing evacuations in Estes Park on Tuesday. The blaze was burning on 145 acres Wednesday night and 40% contained.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what caused the fatal crash. It can take more than a year for investigators to release a report on what caused the aircraft to go down.
Colorado had one of its worst wildfire seasons in history in 2020. Three of the state’s largest wildfires occurred that year, including the Cameron Peak Fire which burned in Larimer County and is the largest ever recorded at 208,913 acres. The last firefighting aircraft crash in Colorado happened 20 years ago.
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