Pilot Dave Kelly had heard radio reports of the fire and decided to leave for work early. He was alone in his S2-T tanker when he took off at 7:44 a.m. that Thursday morning. A larger OV-10 Bronco air attack plane that orbits at a higher elevation, so as to supervise and coordinate other firefighting aircraft, was two minutes behind him.

Kelly was the first pilot to fly over the Camp fire as smoke blotted out the sun and wind gusts carried burning chunks of vegetation and debris into the nearby towns of Paradise, Magalia and Concow, sparking new fires.

It was just getting the crap beat out of you, basically, Kelly said of flying amid heavy wind gusts.

He first flew northeast to the origin point of the fire at the mouth of a Feather River canyon where he estimated winds were blasting at nearly 60 mph and knew any retardant drop to cut off its flank was pointless.

Itd probably still be in the air, said Kelly, who has been piloting tankers since the fire storms in Southern California in 2003.

He banked his airplane to the right and made a loop. He then headed to the fires western edge but found it was too turbulent to drop retardant. He then banked left and made a full loop until he was headed east, toward the fires other flank.

Down in front of him, barely visible in the smoke, lay rows of unburned homes where he could drop pink retardant, its chemical mixture making anything it coats tougher to burn.

When tankers drop retardant, their goal is to be as slow and low as possible, Kelly said. To do that, pilots will pull their planes flaps all the way down creating more surface area along the wings to increase air resistance and giving the pilot greater control while at the same time rolling back on the throttle to slow the tanker to a relative crawl as it sinks in the air closer to the target.

So Kelly put the flaps all the way down, lowered the throttle and attempted his approach toward Paradise.

But instead of descending toward his target, his plane climbed 1,000 feet.

The winds that rolled over the Sierra Nevada ridges and up the canyon walls were lifting Kellys 30,000-pound tanker when it shouldve dropped like a stone. Jostled continuously in the air, Kelly was forced to abandon the mission. Had he tried to approach it in the opposite direction, the winds rolling over the hills couldve shoved his plane down to the ground without giving him time to react.

Kelly returned to the air base at 8:29 a.m., without dropping any retardant on the fire. The air attack supervisor orbiting above announced that all fixed-wing aircraft were grounded until further notice because of the conditions. Only helicopters, which can function in higher winds, managed to operate during the fire and dropped water on evacuation routes to help residents escape.

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