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Calif. Man Charged in Pilots' Deaths
Associated Press
Last Updated: Aug. 28, 2001 at 11:35:33 p.m.
HOPLAND, Calif. - A man was charged with murder Tuesday in the deaths of two pilots whose firefighting planes collided over a blaze that may have broken out at an illegal drug lab in the woods.
Frank Brady, 50, of Redwood Valley was being held without bail after Mendocino County prosecutor Norm Vroman filed the charges.
A second man, Richard Mortensen, 43, of San Pablo was arrested on outstanding warrants for drug and weapons charges. Vroman said he also might be charged in the deaths.
Both suspects declined requests for interviews.
In Mendocino County, where the two pilots died, evidence of a methamphetamine production lab was discovered near the site where the fire began, Vroman said. Investigators spent Tuesday trying to link the two men to illegal activity which may have started the blaze
The planes collided Monday evening near Hopland, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, while dumping fire retardant on the 250-acre wildfire. Killed were retired Navy veteran Larry Groff, 55, and Lars Stratte, 45.
The pilots were flying alone in the Korean War-era Grumman S-2 planes when they clipped each other during a pass over the fire.
Among the eyewitnesses was Jim Wattenburger, who was in charge of fighting the blaze. He said he was discussing the fire with a colleague when he looked up and saw Stratte's crippled plane hurtling right toward him.
Wattenburger said he looked right into the cockpit at Stratte.
``There were two or three seconds when he was staring at me and I was staring at him ... he was fighting to maintain control of the aircraft,'' he said.
``The closer he got to the ground, his mouth got wider and wider and his eyes got bigger and bigger,'' said Wattenburger, who had to choke back tears as he recounted an image he said he will relive forever.
He ran behind a truck and the plane crashed about 100 feet away. The other crashed about a quarter-mile away.
Another witness, pilot Bob Valette, had trained both men. He said the firefighting efforts had been routine. ``No limits were pushed here at all,'' he said. ``It was actually a ho-hum fire.''
The cause of the collision was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The blaze has destroyed at least 12 structures and threatened more than a dozen others. It was about 60 percent contained Tuesday.
The two pilots were employed by San Joaquin Helicopters of Delano. The NTSB lists six accidents since 1995 involving aircraft operated by the company. Of those, a 1998 crash resulted in the death of an air tanker pilot.
Jim Josephson, president of San Joaquin Helicopters, expressed his condolences in a statement released Tuesday.
``They were highly trained, professional pilots who were dedicated to the firefighting mission,'' Josephson said. Each pilot had years of experience in aerial firefighting, he said.
Associated Press
Last Updated: Aug. 28, 2001 at 11:35:33 p.m.
HOPLAND, Calif. - A man was charged with murder Tuesday in the deaths of two pilots whose firefighting planes collided over a blaze that may have broken out at an illegal drug lab in the woods.
Frank Brady, 50, of Redwood Valley was being held without bail after Mendocino County prosecutor Norm Vroman filed the charges.
A second man, Richard Mortensen, 43, of San Pablo was arrested on outstanding warrants for drug and weapons charges. Vroman said he also might be charged in the deaths.
Both suspects declined requests for interviews.
In Mendocino County, where the two pilots died, evidence of a methamphetamine production lab was discovered near the site where the fire began, Vroman said. Investigators spent Tuesday trying to link the two men to illegal activity which may have started the blaze
The planes collided Monday evening near Hopland, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, while dumping fire retardant on the 250-acre wildfire. Killed were retired Navy veteran Larry Groff, 55, and Lars Stratte, 45.
The pilots were flying alone in the Korean War-era Grumman S-2 planes when they clipped each other during a pass over the fire.
Among the eyewitnesses was Jim Wattenburger, who was in charge of fighting the blaze. He said he was discussing the fire with a colleague when he looked up and saw Stratte's crippled plane hurtling right toward him.
Wattenburger said he looked right into the cockpit at Stratte.
``There were two or three seconds when he was staring at me and I was staring at him ... he was fighting to maintain control of the aircraft,'' he said.
``The closer he got to the ground, his mouth got wider and wider and his eyes got bigger and bigger,'' said Wattenburger, who had to choke back tears as he recounted an image he said he will relive forever.
He ran behind a truck and the plane crashed about 100 feet away. The other crashed about a quarter-mile away.
Another witness, pilot Bob Valette, had trained both men. He said the firefighting efforts had been routine. ``No limits were pushed here at all,'' he said. ``It was actually a ho-hum fire.''
The cause of the collision was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The blaze has destroyed at least 12 structures and threatened more than a dozen others. It was about 60 percent contained Tuesday.
The two pilots were employed by San Joaquin Helicopters of Delano. The NTSB lists six accidents since 1995 involving aircraft operated by the company. Of those, a 1998 crash resulted in the death of an air tanker pilot.
Jim Josephson, president of San Joaquin Helicopters, expressed his condolences in a statement released Tuesday.
``They were highly trained, professional pilots who were dedicated to the firefighting mission,'' Josephson said. Each pilot had years of experience in aerial firefighting, he said.
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no subject
Date: 2001-08-29 01:37 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2001-08-29 01:38 pm (UTC)From:I hate meth, I hate the idea of meth, and I hate the existence of meth labs. Nasty, nasty stuff. Pretty horrible to think of foul meth labs displacing good ol' pot farms up Menocino way, too. Anyway, I read this story this morning, and if it's proven that these guys operated the meth lab that started the fire & indirectly resulted in the deaths of the pilots fighting it...my visceral reaction is---throw the book at them.
no subject
Date: 2001-08-29 02:16 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2001-08-29 08:22 pm (UTC)From:As is usual, the article provides more questions than it answers.