I was saddened to hear the news of the fatal crash of an air attack airplane near the Cedar Basin Fire in Arizona on Saturday, June 10th. Twenty-four hours had passed when I heard the news last night of the crash from a friend who knows of my blog. Not knowing any details beyond what my friend told me, I went to Bill Gabbert's Fire Aviation site and saw his two articles, the first on July 10th reporting on the crash with information from the Bureau of Land Management in Arizona. He wrote a second article on July 11th with more information:
The Bureau of Land Management has released the names of the two men killed July 10 in the crash of an air attack aircraft in Arizona.
The incident occurred at about noon during initial attack efforts on the Cedar Basin Fire, which is 14 miles east of Wikieup in northwestern Arizona.
Pilot Matthew Miller, 48, and Air Tactical Group Supervisor Jeff Piechura, 62, were on board a Beechcraft King Air C-90 aircraft conducting visual reconnaissance and aviation command and control over the fire. Mr. Miller was a fire pilot with Falcon Executive Aviation, Inc. contracted by the U.S. Forest Service. Mr. Piechura was an employee with the Coronado National Forest. Their remains have been recovered from the accident site.
In addition to Bill's article on Fire Aviation cited above, I found this news release from the Bureau of Land Management in Arizona on Facebook and a report from CBS in Phoenix Arizona.
My heartfelt prayers go out to Jeff and Matthew's families, friends, colleagues, and all who loved them. May Jeff and Matthew always fly in favorable winds.
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