A Boeing 737 aircraft with registration number N619SW belonging to Coulson Aviation crashed near Ravensthorpe in Western Australia while undergoing a firefighting operation to fight a bushfire in the Fitzgerald River National Park.
The two pilots managed to free themselves and were airlifted to nearby Ravensthorpe Airport (RVT) by a fellow firefighting helicopter.
This was the third flight of the day for the aircraft as, up to that point, it had been ferrying between Busselton Regional Airport (BQB) about 220 kilometers to the south of Perth. The aircraft flew for over 40 minutes before it crashed in the Fitzgerald River National Park.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has launched an investigation into the incident.
“The ATSB is assembling a team of transport safety investigators from its Perth and Canberra offices with experience in aircraft operations and maintenance, human factors and data recovery to conduct the evidence collection phase of the investigation. The scope of the investigation and its timeframe will be determined as the ATSB builds its understanding of the nature of the accident,” the ATSB said in a statement.