Incident Name: repositioning from Santa Barbara CA to Missoula MT to support fire suppression efforts involving a number of large fires in MT; impacted terrain near Florence, MT.
Date: 10/16/91
Personnel: 2 lives lost
Age:
Agency/Organization: Aero Union Corp. of Chico, CA under contract with US Forest Service
Position pilot and co-pilot
Summary:
John Robert Sieglinger, age 46
Robert Allen Shaw, age 32
On October 16, 1991, the airtanker was dispatched to an airport that had instrument meterological conditions. The crew did not have the applicable approach charts aboard the airplane. The crew requested and received verbal instructions from air traffic control for a VOR/DME (very-high-frequency omnidirectional radio / distance-measuring equipment) approach. The crew apparently misunderstood the instructions and turned the airplane in the wrong diretion to intercept a DME arc that is part of the approach procedure. The airplane then struck high terrain. John Sieglinger and Robert Shaw died. (From the Appendix of Flight Safety Digest, April 1999 — Fixed-wing Aircraft Accidents During US Aerial Fire Fighting Operations 1976-1998.)
Maps
West of normal approach to Missoula MT airport, approx 15 minutes out
{mosmap lat=’46.921694’|lon=’-114.065946’|marker=’0’|text=’Missoula MT airport’}
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Concise Information from the NTSB, FAA, AAP, and research by the WLF Staff:
- October 16, 1991
- 2 killed: John Sieglinger, Robert Shaw
- Operator: Aero Union Corp. of Chico, CA
- Type: LOCKHEED P-3A Orion
- Location: on approach to Missoula Montans airfield, crashed near Florence, MT
- FAA Registration # N924AU
- NTSB # SEA92T#A01
- No documents relating to this investigation are in in the public National Transportation Safety Board lookup: NTSB online lookup Utility; to find the record NTSB # SEA92T#A01; “The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 46140.”
- USFS: Fatal Aviation Accident History 3 page Excerpt pp 21-23 (343 K pdf)| 112 page Full Report (all accidents: 4,017 K pdf)
- Flight Safety Foundation (flightsafety.org): Flight Safety Digest, Vol 18, No. 4, April 1999, US Aerial Firefighting Accidents Involving Fixed Wing Aircraft 1976-1998 (218 K pdf)
- AAP Aviation Heroes under 1991: John Sieglinger | Robert Shaw
- Forest Service Heroes page (under US Forest Service Aviation Contractors; scroll down): John Sieglinger | Robert Shaw
- USFA Memorial Database: John Sieglinger | Robert Shaw
- John’s and Robers’s name and death date are included in the USFA Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study, published April 2002 (2,888 K pdf)
- Montana Death Index: John Sieglinger | Robert Shaw
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Contributors to this article: Mellie
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