Login
Families of US pilots to sue over fatal Black Summer crash
The families of two of the American firefighters who died tackling a Black Summer blaze are set to take the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and Coulson Aviation to court.
Jerome Doraisamy
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on Lawyers Weekly’s sister brand, Australian Aviation.
On Monday (29 August), an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report found wind shear caused the pilots’ Lockheed C-130 to stall, leading it to hit the ground in the NSW Snowy Mountains. First officer Paul Hudson and flight engineer Rick DeMorgan also died.
However, the bureau concluded Coulson Aviation did not include a windshear recovery procedure in its C-130 flight manual, and the aircraft was not fitted with a windshear detection system. It also concluded the RFS had “no procedures” for the deployment of firefighting aircraft without aerial supervision.
Mrs McBeth said she hoped changes implemented as a result of the investigation would mean “no other families have to endure what I have been through and will continue to suffer for the remainder of our lives”.
Shine Lawyers told the newspaper it was acting for both Mrs McBeth and her family, alongside the widow of the first officer Paul Hudson.
Lawyers Weekly reached out to Shine Lawyers for further comment and was told that the firm had nothing further to add at this stage.
Earlier this week, Coulson told Australian Aviation it worked “hand in hand” with the ATSB to provide the information it needed and said the organisation’s loss of the three firefighters was still “deeply felt”.
“Our aircraft and teams operate more than 8,000 firefighting missions worldwide each year, with the largest wildfire agencies in the world,” said chief executive Wayne Coulson.
“We operate under our industry-leading safety management system and operational procedures which assess and manage risks unique to the aerial firefighting environment.
“As the largest Australian supplier of large firefighting aircraft, we continue to innovate and improve our aircraft, policies, procedures, and practices to provide our customers with safe and effective aerial firefighting operations.
“We have full confidence in our aircraft and in our team members, and the safety of our team while conducting aerial firefighting operations across the world remains the number one focus of the organisation.”
The incident on 23 January 2020 was one of the most high-profile tragedies of Australia’s Black Summer bushfire season, while the C-130 is the largest non-military aircraft to have ever crashed in Australia.
The ATSB’s chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said: “The ATSB recognises the critical importance of aerial firefighting, where aircraft are flown at low altitudes and low airspeeds, often in challenging conditions, in the management and suppression of bushfires in Australia.”
Mr Mitchell added Coulson subsequently took proactive safety actions in response to the accident, including the introduction of a pre-flight risk assessment tool, a new three-tiered risk management approach, and windshear procedures and training.
Separately, the ATSB said the NSW Rural Fire Service had no procedures for the deployment of firefighting aircraft without aerial supervision. It led to the RFS committing to undertake a comprehensive review of RFS aviation doctrine.
Mr Mitchell said he welcomed that commitment but said the ATSB had nonetheless issued three safety recommendations to the RFS to take further action to reduce the risk associated with three safety issues identified in the investigation.
These concern managing and communicating task rejections, aerial supervision requirements, and initial attack certification.
The ATSB has also issued two safety recommendations to Coulson Aviation. These are to further consider the fitment of a windshear detection system to its C-130 aircraft and to incorporate foreseeable external factors into its pre-flight assessment tool.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
You can email Jerome at:
