Boeing 737 water bomber crash: Clean-up in Fitzgerald River National Park about to begin as probe wraps up

A complex clean-up is about to begin in a remote WA national park where a firefighting Boeing 737 crashed a fortnight ago. The water bomber, operated by Canadian contractor Coulson Aviation, crashed in Fitzgerald River National Park on February 7 while fighting a bushfire. The plane burst into flames after impact but miraculously the two pilots aboard survived unscathed. Coulson Aviation is now moving in to remove the huge wreckage as aviation investigators wrap up their probe into why it went down. The new vision of the air tanker shows the charred outline of the Boeing 737 — the first to crash in Australian history. Coulson’s insurer Charles Taylor has lodged an environmental management plan to recover the plane, which is now under assessment by WA’s Department of Biodiversity and Conservation. A department spokesman said the crash had an “insignificant impact” on the park but “environmental hazards will be identified and mitigated” throughout the clean-up. Charles Taylor estimated the recovery would take a week but environmental remediation may take longer. Avcon cleaning manager Ryan Burke said removing hazardous materials and dismantling the plane would take time. “It’s mainly about removing debris that’s not naturally there and any contamination or other parts of the plane,” he said. “We might adopt some hand-cutting tools and then cut it into smaller and bring it out in a smaller all-terrain vehicle, another option is to bring in a big tipper which can take big parts of the plane.”