Boeing 737 crash pilots walk away from fiery wreckage as Mark McGowan hails their survival a ‘miracle’

Pictures emerge of the fiery scene of a Boeing 737 crash in southern WA — the first in Australia — as the state’s premier hails the pilots’ “remarkable” survival. 

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed it was the first time a 737 hull had been “lost” in Australia, although most 737s are not involved in firefighting activity. 

The Boeing 737 Fireliner, a civilian aircraft that had been converted for firefighting and operated by Coulson Aviation, came down in the Fitzgerald River National Park, about 460 kilometres south-east of Perth, about 4:40pm on Monday.

It had taken off from the Busselton-Margaret River airport about 3:25pm to respond to a fire near Hopetoun. 

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The two pilots onboard were rescued from the crash site by helicopter and airlifted to the local hospital in Ravensthorpe.

Despite the large size of the aircraft involved, it is understood both men, understood to be Canadians, only suffered minor injuries.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, WA Premier Mark McGowan declared their survival “a miracle”.

“When I first heard of it I assumed the worst, but I’m advised the pilot and the crew have survived. That’s a miracle … I’m amazed,” Mr McGowan said. 

“These planes, we contract them to do the work, the crews are often not west Australians, they are sometimes even international people.

“How you manage to crash an aircraft like that, particularly in a forested area, and survive is remarkable.”

Photos emerge of crash

Thick plumes of black smoke and flames can be seen rising from the wreckage of the 737 air tanker which crashed into dense forest in the first photos to emerge after the incident. 

The images show the front of the plane and cockpit appear to be in one piece, perhaps pointing to how the two pilots incredibly managed to walk away from the disaster with only minor injuries.

Air crash investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau plan to speak to the pilots in Perth today before travelling to the scene to begin working out why the aircraft went down.

Crews from other firefighting aircraft owned and operated by Canadian company Coulson Aviation have been temporarily grounded across the country.

But WA’s Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm was adamant the planes were essential to the state’s fire fighting efforts and the contract with Coulson would not be reviewed, at this stage.

Mr Klemm told ABC Radio Perth the 737 large air tanker had been midway through a ‘split run’, when it dropped half a load of fire retardant and was coming around for the second run, when it crashed.

“Somewhere in that it appears that something’s gone wrong,” he said.

“Obviously, hitting the ground at the speed they were would have been going and given the terrain that they had to put the plane down in, it was only understandable there was going to be catastrophic damage to their aircraft and a resultant fire.”

Despite much of the plane catching alight, the two pilots were able to survive and escape the burning wreckage, before being rescued by helicopter and being medically assessed, with only minor injuries.

‘Outstanding result’

“It is an unbelievable story really, that they’ve been able to put the 737 down in the national park there and both walk away,” Mr Klemm said.

“Obviously, that’s a fantastic outcome for them. You don’t see often that people are able to walk away from those sorts of events, so outstanding result for them.”

This is second crash Coulson Aviation had been involved in over the past three years. 

An investigation into a 2020 NSW crash — which claimed the lives of three US crew aboard a Coulson Aviation C-130 — found wind conditions were too dangerous for aircraft to be operating, but the NSW Rural Fire Service had failed to pass on that information to the crew.

However, it was also critical of Coulson Aviation, finding it had inadequate safety risk management processes and “did not include a windshear recovery procedure in their C-130 Airplane Flight Manual”.

Coulson crews ‘rested’

Mr Klemm confirmed the crews of other planes operated by Coulson, including C-130s and other large air tankers, were being “rested”.

“At the moment, they’re all being rested, until it’s felt that it’s safe for them to go back in the air from their own wellbeing point of view,” he said.

Asked what would happen if they were needed to fight major bushfires in the next few days, Mr Klemm said he had spoken to New South Wales authorities about bringing a large air tanker from that state if needed.

The Commonwealth-funded 737 air tanker which crashed had arrived in WA in December to fly under the directives of the WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).

This was the first year a large air tanker had been based in WA for three months of the fire season, rather than borrowing them from other states.

Mr Klemm refused to speculate on the causes of the crash and said the contract with Coulson Aviation was not being reviewed.

He said the planes had been in use for 15-20 years in North America were very useful in tackling bushfires in remote locations that are very hard for fire fighters and trucks to access, like the Fitzgerald River National Park.

“Absolutely, they’re a key part of the response effort every year here in Western Australia,” Mr Klemm said.

Call for pause on air tankers

Opposition emergency services spokesperson Martin Aldridge worked at DFES for the air intelligence gathering unit before becoming a politician.

Mr Aldridge said the use of large air tankers for firefighting should be paused and reconsidered.

“Two events in the last three years, these are large vessels, this aircraft was some 60 tonnes operating at low speed, low altitude,” he said.

“The risks are high.”

He added if the crash had occurred in a more populated area “the outcome of this event yesterday may well have been drastically different”.

Community ‘shocked’

Ravensthorpe shire president Keith Dunlop said the incident was ‘unbelievable’. 

“When planes come down and you just walk away like that, it’s just unbelievable.

“I’m just glad the pilots are safe.”

He said everyone in the community was shocked but relieved the crew was unharmed.