Jason Bergreen
The Salt Lake Tribune

RENO, Nev. — Calvin Gene Wahlstrom, 61, of Huntsville, was piloting a fire-fighting air tanker that crashed shortly after taking off Tuesday near Reno, Nev., according to the Washoe County Coroner's Office.

He and his two passengers died. Wahlstrom was flying the twin-engine P-2V air tanker when a turbine apparently exploded moments after the plane left the Reno-Stead Airport.

The other two crewmen on board were also killed. They were identified as 25-year-old Zachary Jake Vander Griend and Gregory Gonsioroski, 41, both of Montana, supervising deputy coroner Sara Mildebrandt said Wednesday.

The aircraft had been used to dump retardant on one wildfire that day, and was taking off to fight a second blaze when the crash occurred, according to fire officials.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said Wednesday that the plane climbed 100 to 200 feet into the air when one of the jet-engine turbines exploded.

He said the left wing was engulfed in flames while the plane was still airborne. But there was no evidence that the wing fell off, as initially reported, Knudson said. Engine parts were found between the runway and the main crash site, which was bout 1 miles from the runway, Knudson said. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The air tanker, owned by Neptune Aviation of Missoula, Mont., had returned to the airport Monday after making one flight over a fire in California's Hope Valley south of Lake Tahoe during the morning, said Marnie Bonesteel, a spokeswoman with the Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators.

The plane crashed after it took off to drop retardant on another fire in California later in the day, she said.

"They were fully fueled and did have a full load of retardant as well," Bonesteel said. But with the cancellation of the mission to that second fire, a recall was issued for the plane, she said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the crew had received the recall notice before the crash. It was at least the third time a P-2V owned by Neptune was involved in a fatal crash while fighting wildfires on government contract over the past 15 years.

Two men were killed when one crashed near Missoula in 1994 and two other men died in a crash near Reserve, N.M., in 1998.

The plane that crashed Monday was built in 1962 as an anti-submarine bomber for the Navy, officials said.

The fire in the Hope Valley had forced the evacuation of campgrounds, two mountain retreats and about 20 homes on Sunday.

Copyright 2008, The Salt Lake Tribune