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RENO, Nev. — The order for a firefighting air tanker to drop retardant on a blaze in California was canceled about the same time the plane crashed during takeoff at an airport north of Reno, killing three people, officials said Tuesday.
The Lockheed P2V-7 had been dispatched Monday evening to fight a fire in California on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.
But the tanker was no longer needed and was recalled around the time it went down at Reno-Stead airport, said Marnie Bonesteel, spokeswoman with the Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators.
All three crew members were killed, bringing to 27 the number of deaths in fatal crashes of firefighting air tankers in the U.S since 1991.
The plane was owned by Neptune Aviation of Missoula, Mont.
