Our condolences to the Davis, Labare, and Wass families and the U.S. Forest Service of California. Engineer Michael Harlow,
59, Co-Pilot Craig Labare, 36, and Pilot Steven Wass, 42, died Monday June 17, 2002. Their C-130 air tanker broke apart in
midair and crashed in flames while dropping fire retardant on an 8,000 acre wildfire near Yosemite National Park close to the
town of Walker in Mono County California.
All three crew members were killed in the crash. Captain Steven Wass of Gardnerville, Nevada, Co-pilot Craig Labare of
Loomis, California, and Flight Engineer Michael Davis of Bakersfield, California, were performing aerial firefighting for the
Wyoming based company Hawkins & Powers Aviation under contract with the U.S. Forest Service.
