Plane C-130 Tanker Crashed While Fighting Fires

thomas.senate, Feb 09, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senator Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) called on top officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reevaluate their $1.6 million settlement agreement with Hawkins & Powers Aviation (H&P). The company is a significant employer in the Big Horn Basin and this settlement agreement could cause the company to file for bankruptcy, Thomas said today.

The $1.6 million settlement agreement that H&P entered into with the government stemmed from a lawsuit regarding the transfer of surplus military C-130 aircraft to H&P. Following the settlement agreement, in the summer of 2002, a C-130 air tanker crashed while fighting fires for the U.S. Forest Service. During the course of accident investigation by the U.S. Government, information came forward indicating that the Central Intelligence Agency had used the aircraft for various missions without reporting flight hours or maintenance records when the plane was sold to H&P. H&P contends that the U.S. government did not pass along critical information regarding the air worthiness of the former C-130 aircraft. Thomas said that this information casts doubt on the government’s initial exchange of the aircraft.

As a result of the crash last summer, the U.S. Forest Service permanently grounded all C-130 air tankers. Because H&P can no longer use them for government firefighting contracts, it cannot fulfill the settlement agreement because it was based on future revenue from firefighting contracts. As a show of good faith, H&P has continued to make monthly payments to address its settlement agreement with the U.S. Government, $140,000 since January.

“Hawkins and Powers is not trying to escape from paying the Federal Government, the company simply wants the government to postpone the settlement payments until the Department of Justice has re-evaluated its case against H&P,” Thomas said.

Thomas said that H&P is one of the largest firefighting operators in the world with 160 employees in Wyoming. The company contributes $10 million annually to the Wyoming economy by way of payroll, payments to vendors and taxes. Thomas also expressed his concern that this settlement could put employees at H&P out of work and put a sizeable dent in the Big Horn Basin economy.

“If the federal government chooses not to revisit the settlement agreement with H&P, there is a chance that the company may have to file for bankruptcy and 160 hard-working Wyomingites could lose their jobs. I for one will do what I can to make sure that this does not happen,” Thomas said.