Major Ryan S. David – Navigator

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Major Ryan S. David – Navigator

July 1, 2012
White Draw Fire - South Dakota

Major Ryan S. David  (Navigator) was part of a six member crew was operating a C-130 Hercules aircraft, MAFFS 7, on a wildland fire fighting mission on the White Draw Fire near Edgemont, South Dakota. The aircraft was equipped with a modular fire fighting system with a capacity of 3,000 gallons of fire retardant. The aircraft had successfully conducted a fire retardant drop on the fire and it was in the process of making a second drop when the crash occurred. As the aircraft made run, it encountered turbulence from a thunderstorm and crashed. The four members of the flight deck crew were killed and the two crew members operating the fire fighting system in the rear of the aircraft were injured but survived. A report concluded that all four flight crew died during the crash impact and not during the post-crash fire. Incident Location: White Draw fire (near Edgemont, SD).

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