What happened
During an aerial firefighting mission in Corsica, France, a fleet of three aircraft—identified by the callsigns Pelican 44, Pelican 36, and Pelican 37—was engaged in suppressing a wildfire near Piétramaggiore. Following an initial water drop and a subsequent scooping maneuver in the Gulf of Revellata, Pelican 36 proceeded to its designated drop axis. While performing a turn at an altitude of approximately 2,160 feet, the aircraft's flight path was noted to be further west and over higher terrain than the preceding aircraft.
Data from the flight recorder indicates that shortly before the accident, the aircraft was in a right-hand turn at 1,360 feet with a 17-degree roll. Although the elevators remained relatively stable, the recorded altitude increased to 1,500 feet within a 1.5-second interval. During this period, the tail section of the Pelican 36 separated from the fuselage. The Canadair aircraft subsequently struck a mountainside and broke apart, resulting in 3 fatalities.
Findings
Investigations into the structural failure focused on both environmental and technical factors. While researchers could not definitively prove that specific load cases caused the fuselage to fail, evidence suggests that updrafts generated by the wildfire may have created aerodynamic stresses near the threshold required to compromise the airframe.
Technical examinations of the wreckage did not identify any pre-existing damage to the fuselage or empennage; however, investigators could not entirely rule out the possibility that prior structural weaknesses contributed to the separation of the tail section during the flight.