Firefighting plane in Yosemite crash may have hit tree

DynCorp International shows pilot Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt who was killed Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, while fighting the Dog Rock Fire in Yosemite National Park. Hunt, 62, a 13-year veteran pilot of Dyncorp International, was flying a S-2T air tanker, similar to the plane in the photo, under contract with the state, when his plane hit a canyon wall while fighting the blaze that has caused the closure of the major western entrance into the heart of the park. CalFire has temporarily grounded it's fleet of S-2T's for inspection. less DynCorp International shows pilot Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt who was killed Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, while fighting the Dog Rock Fire in Yosemite National Park. Hunt, 62, a 13-year veteran pilot of Dyncorp ... more Photo: DynCorp International, Associated Press Photo: DynCorp International, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Firefighting plane in Yosemite crash may have hit tree 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The pilot who was killed in an air tanker crash while battling a wildfire in Yosemite National Park may have hit a tree, with the impact tearing off a wing, federal investigators said Wednesday.

Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt, 62, of San Jose was flying a retardant-dropping Grumman S2 Tracker when the plane crashed into a canyon wall Oct. 7 in an area known as Parkline Slabs outside the community of El Portal.

Hunt, contracted by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, was flying with two other aircraft, one that circled the fire and coordinated the attack from the sky and the other serving as a lead plane that directed Hunt into the drop zone.

The crew of the lead airplane didn’t witness the crash, but the crew of the circling aircraft reported that Hunt’s tanker “may have struck a tree with its wing, which separated from the airplane,” according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.

It said visibility had been good, despite smoke from the fire.

The safety board will not issue a final report on the cause of the crash until the close of its investigation, which could take months.

In a statement Wednesday, Chief Ken Pimlott, director of Cal Fire, noted the danger of aerial firefighting, which he said “is not simply flying from one airport to another.

The wildland fighting environment is a challenging one, both on the ground and in the air.

“We look forward to the final NTSB report to see if we can use the findings to help mitigate the inherent dangers of the job,” Pimlott said. “We owe that to Craig, who traded his life in an effort to protect the lives of others.”

Authorities lost contact with the air tanker just before 4:30 p.m. as it was battling the Dog Rock Fire, which broke out earlier in the day.

The crash happened after Hunt had arrived on scene, made one drop on the fire and then was reloaded with retardant at Columbia Airport in Tuolumne County, the report said.

The 311-acre fire, which prompted the evacuation of 60 homes in the town of Foresta and cut off power to Yosemite Valley, was fully contained Sunday.

Search and rescue teams found Hunt’s body just after nightfall amid a debris field half a mile from Highway 140.

Parts of the plane ended up as far away as the highway, which was closed to traffic after the fire started.

The plane, built in 2004, had no previous reports of mishaps, according to federal aviation safety databases.

Hunt was an experienced aviator who had flown firefighting missions in California for more than a decade, acquaintances said.

Hunt, who left behind a wife and two daughters, flew for DynCorp International, a Cal Fire contractor, for 13 years and was based in Hollister, as was the plane, officials said.

DynCorp, based in Virginia, provides pilots seasonally for Cal Fire from a dozen locations in the state.

It was Cal Fire’s first aircraft-related death since 2006, when two people died in the crash of a spotter plane in Tulare County.

Federal investigators found the cause of that crash was pilot error.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee