The changes instituted by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in response to the panel’s findings are listed

The death of five air tanker pilots in 2002 prompted the federal government’s creation of a blue-ribbon panel to study its aerial fire-fighting business.

“What we have found is a system in need of repair,” a joint statement by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke stated after the panel offered its recommendations. “What began as an innovative program in the 1950s, to use recently retired military and civilian surplus aircraft to provide fire suppression safely and efficiently, now needs improvement.”