FIREFIGHTING BOEING 737 AIR TANKER CRASHES IN AUSTRALIA
FEBRUARY 6, 2023
Two pilots have walked away with minor injuries after a large air tanker crashed while battling two bushfires in regional Western Australia on Monday afternoon.
The Coulson Aviation Boeing 737-300 Air Tanker, with registration N619SW, had been contracted by the Australian National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) and was flown to Australia in December last year.
A Boeing 737 air tanker owned by a British Columbia company has crashed in Western Australia while on deployment to a fire.
Authorities said the pilots managed to free themselves from the Boeing 737 Fireliner after it came down in the Fitzgerald River National Park, about 460 kilometres south-east of Perth, about 4:40pm.
In a statement, WA Police said the water bomber took off from the Busselton-Margaret River airport about 3:25pm to respond to a fire in the area.
A St John Ambulance WA spokesperson said the two people were not believed to be seriously injured.
The area, west of Hopetoun, was under a Bushfire Watch and Act warning on Monday.
The Conmonwealth-funded air tanker, which is owned and operated by Coulson Aviation, arrived in WA in December to fly under the directives of the WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).
In a statement, Coulson said both pilots had "walked away from the accident" before being medically assessed.