What happened
During a fire suppression mission managed by the USDA Forest Service, two aircraft were involved in a mid-air collision near Ramona, California. The first aircraft, a Douglas C-54G operating as Tanker 19, was performing aerial firefighting duties. The second aircraft, a Beech 58P designated as Lead 56, was performing lead plane operations. Approximately five minutes prior to the tanker's arrival, the lead plane departed the active fire zone and headed toward an uncontrolled airport to execute a 360-degree overhead approach on runway 27.
As the Douglas C-54G was on its initial approach, positioned roughly one mile east of the airfield, the two planes collided. The investigation determined that the Beech 58P struck the vertical stabilizer of the tanker while in a descent. This impact caused the empennages of both aircraft to separate, resulting in both planes entering uncontrolled descents and crashing. A pilot of a Grumman S2 following the tanker reported hearing radio transmissions from both aircraft shortly before the impact but did not witness the collision itself.
Findings
Investigators identified several contributing factors regarding the lack of coordination and standardized procedures. While the lead plane was heard transmitting on the common traffic advisory frequency (ctaf) shortly before the accident, the Forest Service had not coordinated the overhead approach maneuvers with the local airport manager. Furthermore, there were no established parameters regarding the required airspeed or altitude for the initial approach. The absence of established approach altitude or airspeed parameters and the lack of coordination with airport management were key elements in the sequence of events.