Paul Edwin HAMPTON

A 32-year-old water-bombing pilot  and father of two has crashed and died while fighting a bushfire in southern NSW.

Brad Pead, a 32-year-old father of two, died when his plane ploughed into a hill near Mount Ulandra, south of Cootamundra, about 7pm (AEDT) last night.

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg said today the tragic accident marred a clean track record.

“We have had a perfect aviation record up until now in fire fighting … indeed it is the first time in Australian history,” Mr Koperberg said.

“It is obviously a great tragedy – a young man, young family – but what he was doing is very, very dangerous.”

Aerial Agricultural Association chief executive officer, Phil Hurst, told smh.com.au: “It’s a very small community – about 300 agricultural pilots, everyone knows everyone, so everybody will be feeling this loss this morning.”

He said it was a high-risk job done by top pilots, he said.

“Due to the frequency they fly, it would be nothing for a fire-bombing pilot to have 15-16,000 hours experience, more than more airline or military pilots.”

Police said a lightning strike was believed to have sparked a fire on properties at Brawlin, near Cootamundra, about 5pm (AEDT) yesterday.

Three Rural Fire Service planes and one helicopter dumped water on the flames from the air in an attempt to control the blaze, but one of the planes hit a hillside at about 7pm.

The pilot, a father of two from Port Macquarie, worked for a Cowra aerial service contractor, Fred Fahey Aerial Services.
Mr Fahey described the dead pilot as a “good bloke” and a highly experienced flyer who had taken part in plenty of water-bombing operations.

“He got his pilot’s licence practically before he got his car licence – he had probably been flying 15 or 16 years,” he said.

Cootamundra police crime manager Detective Inspector Paul Hampton said witnesses did not believe the plane was flying through smoke when it crashed.

The plane was spraying fire retardant when it crashed into a hillside in farmland, Inspector Hampton said.

“He does not appear to have hit power lines or trees, but that will be further investigated by forensic police and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority today,” he said.

Inspector Hampton said three witnesses, including other pilots, would be interviewed today as investigations continued into the crash.

The firefighting tragedy comes three years after a water-bombing helicopter crashed into a dam during the ACT bushfires, and nine years after a water-bomber plane clipped a house in Perth. Both the pilots survived.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pilot-killed-fighting-bushfire/2006/02/17/1140064214854.html