Black Hills Aviation, Inc. v. United States

VAN BEBBER, District Judge.

This case arises out of the September 10, 1987, crash of a civilian aircraft on the White Sands Missile Base in White Sands, New Mexico. An aircraft generally referred to as Tanker 07, owned by Black Hills Aviation, crashed while performing a contract air fire suppression support mission on the White Sands Base. Pilot Nathan Kolb and co-pilot Woodard Miller were killed instantly, and the plane was destroyed. The plane crashed into a mountain in the Red Rio/Oscura area of the missile base; this area was also the testing site for the nondevelopmental evaluation of the…