Pelican 36 Firefighting Aircraft Accident in Corsica (F-ZBEO)

Incident Overview and Flight Sequence On a firefighting operation near Calvi, Corsica, France, a fleet of three aircraft with callsigns Pelican 44, Pelican 36, and Pelican 37 responded to a fire at Piétramaggiore. After takeoff from Ajaccio Airport and an initial water scoop, the fleet treated a first sector of the fire zone with six passes. During the two following passages, the fleet dropped on another sector. Pelican 36 began its final water scoop in the Gulf of Revellata at a heading of 250°, three minutes and fourteen seconds before the accident. After scooping, the aircraft gained altitude and continued the circuit toward the drop axis. The “doubling” action involved releasing the water load at the precise location of the previous aircraft’s release. During the last turn, Pelican 36 reached an altitude of 2,160 feet. The crew of the following aircraft, Pelican 37, observed Pelican 36 on a trajectory they estimated to be consistent a few seconds before it passed over the drop site. Video evidence, however, showed that Pelican 36’s track was further west than that of Pelican 44, which had preceded it, and over higher terrain. One and a half seconds before the flight recorder stopped, the aircraft was in a right turn at 1,360 feet. The right roll angle was 17° and increasing. The elevators were nearly stable, and the altitude recorded by the flight recorder increased to 1,500 feet in one and a half seconds. After that, the tail section separated from the fuselage. The aircraft then impacted the side of a mountain and broke up. The crew consisted of pilot Ludovic Piasentin and copilot Jean-Louis de Bénédict.