Black Hills Aviation

Lockheed P-2 Neptune

A Cessna 172N registered N738AQ crashed in the Olympic National Forest earlier that day and a fire erupted. The crew was dispatched in the region of Lake Wynoochee to proceed in a fire fighting mission. After the retardant was dropped, the crew initiated a climb when control was lost and the aircraft crashed in a wooded area located near the Wynoochee Dam. Both pilots were killed.

Lockheed P-2 Neptune

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on September 10, 1987, the Army called Black Hills Aviation to suppress a fire started by a FAADS missile. The missile was fired more than two hours before the crash. A P2V aircraft, Forest Service Number N96271 ["Tanker 07"], owned by Black Hills, was dispatched in response to the request for aerial fire suppression. Tanker 07 was piloted by Nathan Kolb and co-piloted by Woodard Miller, employees of Black Hills Aviation who were not Department of Defense personnel. Tanker 07 obtained authorization to enter the missile range's airspace from the missile range air controller. During the flight, Tanker 07 crashed on the missile range and both pilots were killed. The crash site was located approximately fifteen miles into the interior of the missile range, and was inside the testing site for the FAADS Project.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The crew departed Alamogordo on a fire fighting mission in the region of Socorro. During a second pass at low altitude, the airplane contacted trees and crashed in flames. Both pilots were killed.