“Tragically, the aircraft stalled and crashed, resulting in the deaths of Rick, Paul and Ian,” Mr Casselden said. Mr Casselden told the inquest that moments after dropping fire retardant in gusty conditions that were hampering aerial firefighting efforts that day, their tanker was buffeted by windshear. Mr McBeth had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and had logged more than 4000 hours in flight time during a life devoted to service. “This was Ian’s last shift,” Counsel assisting Adam Casselden SC on Monday told the inquest before coroner Teresa O’Sullivan. The inquest was told on Monday that the aircraft’s pilot, Mr McBeth, had just handed in his resignation. The three experienced aviators were in Australia working for Coulson Aviation, which was contracted to the NSW Rural Fire Service. Their deaths are being examined as part of the inquest into the 2019-20 summer bushfires. The pilot of the air tanker that crashed, killing three American crew during the Black Summer bushfires, had just handed in his resignation and was on his last shift, an inquest has been told.Ĭo-pilot Paul Hudson, 42, engineer Rick DeMorgan Jr, 43, and pilot Ian McBeth, 44 were hailed as heroes after their Lockheed C-130 bomber crashed near Cooma battling the Good Good Fire in southern NSW on January 23, 2020.
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