Aero Union P-3 down

[C172gal05]

Rest in Peace...My thoughts and prayers go out to there family and friends!! Always so sad

 

[LAZYB]

Fellow aviators mourn pilot who died in air tanker crash

Fellow aviators mourn pilot who died in air tanker crash

Steve TimkoRENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/22/2005 11:05 pm


Brian Bruns, a Minden pilot who died in a California air tanker crash, was remembered Friday by aviators as a great pilot and an even better human being.

“He was the kind of guy who was well-liked in our industry,” said Mike Kidwell, manager of the Stead Air Attack Base. “He always had a good thing to say about everybody. I didn’t know of a single person who had a derogatory comment to make about him. I was honored to be his friend.”

Bruns, 45, was one of three members of the Aero Union P-3B crew who flew out of a Chico airport on Wednesday on a practice flight. Their remains were found Thursday in the Lassen National Forest.

Authorities are investigating what caused Wednesday’s crash. The air tanker was set to begin fighting fires again next month after safety concerns grounded it and similar planes a year ago.

National forest officials were optimistic Friday that early findings in the crash would not ground the federal firefighting air fleet this summer, a spokesman said.

An initial review of the fiery crash found all the wreckage within a two-acre burn zone, said Paul Schlamm, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman.

That observation renewed confidence in plans by federal firefighting officials to return more air tankers to the skies for the West’s wildfire season, said Matt Mathes, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.

“At first glance, it sounds as if there was not a structural problem in the air,” Mathes said. “This is certainly a promising development. We’re going to wait for more information as the investigation proceeds, but we are cautiously optimistic.”

Scott Dewitz, a Carson City pilot who met Bruns four years ago while guiding Bruns-piloted tankers into fires, said he was always coolheaded on the job and always seemed to touch people emotionally.

“Besides having a huge heart, he never met a stranger,” Dewitz said. “Everyone he met, he would take the time to talk to them.

“He put out a lot of fires around Nevada and the Northwest,” Dewitz added. “He was just a great guy to have in the air.”

Bruns had a U.S. Navy career flying P-3 aircraft and in the winter flew them as part of submarine patrols through the naval reserve, Kidwell said. It was apparently that background with the P-3 aircraft that led him to Aero Union, which uses the P-3 in its government contracts to battle wildfires.

Asked why Bruns would take the air tanker firefighting jobs instead of just flying with the naval reserve, Kidwell said firefighting can be addictive.

“When the bell goes off, there’s the adrenaline and the excitement of it,” Kidwell said. “When you can get out there and kick that fire’s butt and everybody come homes safe. It’s a very satisfying feeling. When it goes bad, it goes radically bad. People die.”

Bruns owned a couple of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and enjoyed Street Vibrations, Kidwell said. He was also into classic cars and had purchased a Shelby Mustang he hoped to drive in this year’s Hot August Nights, he said.

“He lived life to the fullest,” Kidwell said. “He was go, go, go always. I admired him because he wasn’t the type of guy who sat on the sideline. He was a full-on participant.”

As an example of Bruns’ generosity, Dewitz said Bruns kind of adopted the nieces and nephews of Dewitz’s wife as his own and would buy them gifts whenever he went overseas.

“We all feel robbed because he had so much more to give,” Dewitz said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.



Copyright © 2005 The Reno Gazette-Journal

 

[414Flyer]

Sorry to hear about this. I understand it had recently been part of an inspection required after the other firefighting incidents last year? I read an excellent article on some of these guys (non-related) a few months ago. I think it was in AOPA Pilot. Amazing work they do. Condolences.

Crews get inspected and carded yearly.

 

[avbug]

...As do the aircraft, which are all on regular phase inspection programs.

Springtime is training time before the season begins. It's also the time when crews begin scraping off the rust from an inactive winter (no firefighting)...and possibly the most dangerous time of the year.

Unfortunately, those who do this understand this all too well.

 

[bluelake]

Where in the bay area was this?

far to the north, only a few miles northeast of their Chico base.

And, there must be someone who is WAY more qualified to comment on this than I (Avbug perhaps?), but in the recent history of air tanker groundings, I think it can be boiled down to this: some tanker companies played a large role in what LED to the groundings. Some companies played a large role with the massive effort and work to get the fleet back on fires. Aero Union is in the latter. They worked with DynCorp and Sandia Labs in this process.

 

[avbug]

I think it can be boiled down to this: some tanker companies played a large role in what LED to the groundings.

You're right, bluelake. You're not qualified to comment, and don't know what you're talking about. None, not one of the companies played a role in grounding the tankers. You're referring to the two losses by H&P of T-130 and T-123 within three weeks of each other (and the fact that Aero Union went overboard in fingerpointing).

Truth is that every company was evaluated by Sandia, as was the entire national program, and it passed with recommendations. All recommendations were met. USFS imposed a second round with Dyncorp, and most operators passed with flying colors...those areas that didn't were fixed post haste or improved upon to meet the new evaluations.

What LED to the groundings was politics. Pure and simple. The people who did the damage, or at least one key player, Tony Kern, have bailed ship. For cushy two hundred thousand dollar plus jobs in think tanks. Others who should be drawn and quartered, such as Dale Bosworth, are still where they can do damage.

Tony Kern expressed his interest in doing the extreme damage he did before he entered into the industry, while he was still teaching at the US Air Force Academy. I discussed his thinking then, and told him over lunch one day that I disagreed, that he had no concept of the industry, it's needs or demands, and should stay out until he did. He came back as a politician and wreaked havoc, just as I said he would. At the time, certain tanker companies were courting him as a safety advisor. He was full of garbage then, and is now.

 

[414Flyer]

Personally, I think the Dyncorp inspections USFS had conducted, were more of USFS looking for a reasons to not have the tankers back on and hoping the inspections would give them those reasons.

But thats just my opinion.

 

[low-n-slow]

Condolences to the crews, family and friends. Breaks my heart to read of such news regarding fellow aviators.

RIP guys.

 

[bluelake]

Avbug,

My comments were meant more to the chronology of the groundings and ungroundings, not explicitly that an operator was the CAUSE per se. I could have said it better in that sense. Thanks for your additional insight.