Chico Training Flight Aviation Accident Fatalities 2005

Pilots Brian Bruns, Paul Cockrell, and Tom Lynch were practicing water drops and undergoing training/qualification flight checks on a Lockheed P-3B Orion airtanker. The pilots were on their 10th training run of the day, having just refilled the aircraft's water tanks. For an unknown reason, the aircraft crashed about 12 miles north of the Chico Municipal Airport. No distress call was received from the aircraft. All three pilots were killed in the crash or in the ensuing fire.

Paul Cockrell's brother, Gary Cockrell, was killed in an aviation accident in 1995: https://lessons.wildfire.gov/incident/butterfield-ranch-fire-midair-collision-fatalities-1995