The team, which includes representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Forest Service and the N.C. Division of Forest Resources, will collect information at the Bald Knob site this afternoon.
The pilot of the Division of Forest Resources plane scouting a fire in McDowell County escaped injury when his plane crashed about 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
The LP-19 "Birddog" single engine plane was caught in a down draft and plummeted into a steep mountain slope. The pilot, Steve Swails, 57, of Brasstown in Clay County, was spotting a fire for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pisgah National Forest.
A firefighter on the ground saw the crash and ran to help Swails, who walked down the mountain to a U.S. Forest Service Base Camp. He was transported to Grace Memorial Hospital in Morganton, where he was treated and released.
Swails and plane were part of a crew fighting a small, 2-acre wildfire at Dobson Knob on the McDowell-Burke County line and within the Pisgah National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service has been fighting the fire that has been burning since Tuesday. Swails and his fire reconnaissance plane were helping the federal forest service as part of an agreement between the state and federal forestry agencies.
"We are very grateful that Steve was able to walk away from the crash," said Stan Adams, Director of the N.C. Division of Forest Resources, who said he was looking forward to receiving the findings of the investigation. "Our firefighters and pilots put their lives on the line every time they fight a fire. Learning more about the circumstances of this crash may help us prevent similar incidents in the future."
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