Santa Barbara Airport reopens after fiery C-130 plane crash

A private C-130 aircraft that developed problems shortly after takeoff crashed late Sunday while attempting to make an emergency landing at the Santa Barbara Airport, causing flight cancellations and closing the airport for much of Monday.

The crash occurred at about 10:20 p.m. on the airport’s main runway, with the aircraft coming in from the west, according to Santa Barbara fire Battalion Chief Mike de Ponce.

The plane caught on fire after hitting the ground, and part of a wing broke off, de Ponce told Noozhawk.

Firefighters doused the plane with foam to knock down the flames.

Seven people were on board the aircraft, which had taken off from the Santa Maria Public Airport, but de Ponce said there were no injuries.

“They all walked away,” he said.

Shortly after the plane became airborne, the crew detected a problem, but the aircraft was unable to return to the airfield due to fog, de Ponce said.

A company spokeswoman confirmed the aircraft is an aerial oil-spill dispersant plane owned by International Air Response, which is based in Mesa, Arizona.

The plane had flown from Hilo, Hawaii, on Sunday, arriving at Santa Maria shortly after 9 p.m., according to FlightAware. It reportedly was on its way to Mesa at the time of the crash.

Company officials were not available for comment, and a spokeswoman said a statement would be released later.

In addition to city firefighters, Santa Barbara County Fire Department crews also responded to the crash.

Airport opens after all-day closure

The airport was shut down following the crash, and it remained closed for about 19 hours.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived on scene mid-morning Monday to look into the incident and took several hours to do their work, said Deanna Zachrisson, an airport spokeswoman

The main runway re-opened at about 4:46 p.m., Zachrisson said.

The airport’s two shorter runways will remain closed until the damaged plane is removed. They are used primarily by general aviation aircraft.

Zachrisson added that airport officials were still evaluating whether to move the damaged aircraft right away or wait until later, which could affect the timing of resuming air traffic.

Complicating the decision is the fact that the plane still has fuel on board.

“We have to decide whether it’s best to defuel it in place or move it first,” Zachrisson said.

During the crash landing, the aircraft spun around, damaging lighting and signage along the runway and taxiways in the process.

Those items had to be repaired before flight operations could be restarted, Zachrisson said.

She added that there did not appear to be any damage to the runway itself.

There were 24 commercial flights scheduled to depart Monday prior to 4 p.m., and 19 scheduled to arrive, all of which were canceled.

Websites for the various airlines serving Santa Barbara indicated that most of the remainder of Monday’s flights had been canceled, and passengers were urged to contact their airlines for information on flight status and rescheduling.

Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

This story was originally published August 26, 2019 at 7:27 AM.