NTSB: Pilot In Fatal Plane Crash Warned Of High Winds
Firefighting Pilot Told To Continue Fighting Fire
POSTED: 9:18 am MST December 30, 2008
DENVER -- A contract pilot killed this spring while fighting a fire at Fort Carson repeatedly warned officials that winds were too strong for him to safely fly. The National Transportation Safety Board now says that 42-year-old pilot Gert Marais of Fort Benton, Mont., was urged to fight the blaze despite his misgivings.Wind gusts were reported at about 35 to 45 miles per hour at the time.
Marais was killed April 15 when his single-engine air tanker, registered to Aero-Applicators Incorporated of Sterling, Colo., nose-dived into the ground.Marais reported a series of maydays and said "I'm going down," seconds after dropping retardant near the Army post. His plane crashed near Highway 115 on mile marker 30, just east of Fort Carson. Officials with the interagency firefighting dispatch center in charge of directing firefighting efforts could not be reached for comment on the NTSB report.
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Previous Stories:
- April 24, 2008: Pilot Radioed: 'I'm Going Down' Seconds Before Crash
- April 15, 2008: Pilot Fighting Fort Carson Fire Dies In Plane Crash
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