At about 10 p.m. local time on May 8,
2006, a 7th Bomb Wing B-1B Lancer (Tail Number 86132
- called "Oh! Hard Luck") based at Dyess AFB, Texas,
made a wheels-up belly landing on runway 31 at Diego
Garcia, skidding 7,500 feet down the runway. The
aircraft was landing at the end of an 11 hour
ferry mission that started at Andersen AFB,
Guam. During the landing, the B-1B caught fire
and emergency crews extinguished the flames.
The four-person aircrew escaped from the plane
through the overhead escape hatch. The aircraft was
finally removed from the runway 4 days later.
The Air Force Accident
Investigation, released 18 Septemeber 2006,
concluded the pilots forgot to lower the landing
gear. The USAF estimated the damage to the
B-1B at $7.9 million, and the damage to the runway
at $14,025. RBRM and those old SEABEES made
one tough runway, that's for sure! For those
of you who've never seen a $285,000,000.00 bomber on
the deck, here she is! And at the bottom is a
picture of what $7.9 million in repairs and a year
of work can accomplish!
ALL BETTER...
Photos from the last week of April 2007.
Note DG's EMPTY ramp. A regular ghost town
now that ops moved to the Gulf.
As the Germans used to say, "For you, zuh vohr ist
oh-fer"...
Finally, here she is flying today...
Maintenance can fix ANYTHING!
Surprising
to me is that this page has generated more
comments than any other page on the web site
recently! Some are not fit to print
(although enjoyable to read). I hope all
realize that the explanation of the accident
above is taken from the AF Times and AF
Magazine, and are NOT the comments of the
webmaster. For those interested, here are
some Other Points of View:
Date = 11 Dec 6 06:58:09
YEARS = Was never there, but
read the story of the B-1B Belly Flop
NAME = Kerry J. Logan
MY QUEST = Exonerate the pilots
E-MAIL = logan1776@readytek.net
NATIONALITY = USA
SERVICE = USAF left in 1990
RANK/RATE/JOB = SSgt Able
Avionics, F-111 B-Shop, F-15 A-Shop, Nuclear Weapons
Specialist B-61 and B-83 plus SRAM. Bailed out
before Clinton showed.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll
Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: =
Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = You know, I was
involved in an accident investigation of an F-111A
that landed with its nose gear down and the mains
never would lower. The pilot and copilot had tried
numerous times to lower the gears, and only the nose
gear would work, so they tried to blow them down
with an emergency bottle that charges the hydraulic
lines with 3000 psi of nitrogen. Still, the only one
to come down was the nose gear. After the pilot
dumped fuel and came in for the landing, the nose
gear worked fine and the engine nacelle panels were
the only panels damaged. We put the plane on
jacks in a hanger and connected hydraulics and
electric power to the
plane. At the command of the teams NCOIC, I
lowered the gear and they all cycled down as
advertised. We never did find a problem with
the plane, certified it air
worthy and it never had another landing gear
problem.
I
wonder if the findings were true on that B-1B.
I bet he landed with the handle up so he would not
have them cycle while he was landing. So, when
the
team did their investigation,
the handle was still in the upright position.
Another career bites the dust.
Sincerely,
Kerry Logan
EX-Air Force B-Shop - Mtn Home
AFB, Idaho
Now in Utah as a civilian Field
Service Engineer
This is the day the Lord hath
made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalms
118:24)
17 December 06
Ken Ingle [k.ingle@comcast.net]
You don't forget to put down
the landing gear in today's planes. In fact, most
modern electronically equipped airplanes won't
permit it. There had to be some kind of malfunction
other than the pilot to cause the crash.
Ken Ingle
k.ingle@tx.rr.com
From: "Maynard, Michael
C TSgt 39 MXS/MXMEE"
<Michael.Maynard@incirlik.af.mil>
To: easy501@zianet.com
Date: 05 Jan 2007,
02:05:05 AM
Subject: Diego Garcia,
comment on B-1 belly landing.
I would like to add a comment
on the B-1 belly landing. Actually, there is a
warning horn that sounds if the throttles are pulled
back passed flight idle. If the landing gear are not
down this warning horn sounds off and believe me
there's no way you could ignore it. There is a
warning horn silence button located next to the
landing gear handle, this effectively silences the
horn if you intentionally don't have the gear down
for some reason. If the crew were having landing
gear problems, standard procedure is to call the
tower and declare an In-Flight Emergency (IFE). I
don't know the contents of the accident
investigation report but my guess is they did not
call in any IFE. So either way, the crew was not
following procedures.
v/r
TSgt Michael Maynard
USAF/Active Duty (15 Years)
Aircraft Electrical &
Environmental Systems Craftsman
Email: st_rider_2003@yahoo.com
From: Christopher
Anymouse.
12 May 07
I was
a B-one crew chief with the 7th BW for six years and
have turned many a wrench on 132. I stumbled on this
page accidently and couldn't help but laugh at 132's
photos. TSgt Michael Maynard is right to some extent
in regards to the "Master Audio cut-out switch". It
is located on the co-pilots inst. panel,
strategically placed right above the VSDI and
approximately 10 inches above the Landing gear
control panel. When pressed, the aural tone heard in
the crew's headsets will disappear. But if the cause
of the tone is not remedied, the tone will resound.
Now
here's the good stuff. During 132's approach, there
was a B-52 on fire at the hammer head and with a
ground emergency, there comes alot of radio chatter
from the tower. My sources inform me that the
circuit breaker for the aural tone generator (the
thing that makes the tones in the headsets) was also
pulled. That CB is located on the OSO's PCA panel in
the rear of the crew compartment. After a couple of
loud burst from the aural tone generator, the CB was
pulled. I can't even begin to imagine why the gear
was not dropped when the tone sounded the first
time.
Also,
it was noted that the Aircrew did not follow the
landing check list.
The
co-pilot just never threw the gear handle. There was
no fault with the landing gear or its systems which
can be seen being "blown" down in the pics. The two
pilots, from what I was told had their wings pulled.
The two back seaters are not involved in take-off or
landing procedures and were not punished.
OH!
Hard Luck, how ironic.
Thanks,
Mors Ab Altoids
Editor's Note: Hey Chris!
Thanks for the
clarification. As an ex-USAF pilot myself (T-43s
& C-141s), your explanation makes the most sense -
it is virtually impossible to silence that horn
completely in any modern military aircraft without
pulling (oops, my flight engineer would have a cow -
"opening") a CB.
As for loosing wings, my
guess is that they did not, unless they were regular
fuckups. Like we used to say "don't worry, you
have to screw {it} up twice". The regs are
pretty clear - you have to show a history of poor
judgment to loose your wings. Of course, if the
AC directed that the CB be pulled, and didn't follow
the checklist, we'll the reason they made it a Tech
"ORDER" was so they could get you for violating a
direct order, so maybe they did loose their wings.
Good thing it didn't happen
in fifty years ago. Curt LeMay would have had
their balls for breakfast.
From December
2009: Hi. Hey I wanted to ad a comment to
the B-1 Gear Up landing page. I was on that deployment
with the Squadron and I ended up flying our first combat
mission on that deployment right after we got the runway
cleaned up and I knew both the pilot and co-pilot of the
aircraft that landed gear up.
The official, publicly released
Accident Investigation Board report stated that the crew
forgot to lower the landing gear. I have nothing
to dispute that report. I would ad, however, that
immediately prior to the B-1 landing gear up that a B-52
from the unit we were replacing landed and caught fire
with a brake fire while the B-1 crew from the gear up
landing was on their first approach. Which was
certainly a distractor from the B-1 crew’s normal
routine, and they had also just flown from the states to
Guam the day prior. Unfortunately, to my
knowledge, those two pilots are no longer employed as
such by the Air Force. I had flown with the
co-pilot on a previous mission back in the states &
he did fine. Knew the Aircraft Commander, too, he
was on his way to upgrading to instructor-very nice,
smart, professional guy, - Masters from Harvard even, I
think. I was not on their board to decide whether
or not they flew again, glad that I wasn’t.
There are two bottom lines
here-you land a multimillion dollar jet gear up as an
experienced, qualified pilot and you can expect to be
fired-no surprise there, not saying if I would have
voted any differently if it were my call. But the
other bottom line is there, too, and it is as
follows: In War, shit happens despite people’s
best efforts. It’s called the fog of war.
Anonymous BONE crew dog.
Editor's
Note: Some great points. I think the
fact that the "system" intimidates even
professionals like yourself into commenting
anonymously is the reason good men (and women) like
this plane's crew get screwed. It is a
"one-mistake" Air Force - we all know that, and it
is tragic.
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