B1 Grounded
USAF statement says otherwise....
Airforcetimes
Airforcetimes
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https://taskandpurpose.com/b-1b-lanc...gency-landing/
Rumor TLDR; fire - ac orders manual ejection, OSO (bomb nav) seat doesn't fire, AC decides to land after all.
Rumor TLDR; fire - ac orders manual ejection, OSO (bomb nav) seat doesn't fire, AC decides to land after all.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Shows crew loyalty and courage. Prusambly the captain will get charged for disobeying the pilot notes - and then hopefully given a medal and promotion for doing the same.
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Being 30+ year in service it is rather strange that this issue surfaces now.
The B-1 airframe experienced multiple ejection seat issues early in its service life. During the B-1’s development in 1984, the prototype suffered a crash which resulted in the death of the test pilot, Doug Benefield, and serious injuries to two other crew members after the ejection capsule failed; another ejection failure caused the death of a crewmember in September 1987. B-1B’s ejection system has performed without major issue in the 30 years since until this incident.
OT, many years ago I was at KAMA (Amarillo) when a B-1 did a touch and go. Fascinating sight, incredible sound!
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-RP
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Originally the B1 was intended to have an ejectable crew module (as per F111 and the HP Victor initially) but I'm uncertain if the prototype which crashed had this? Subsequently changed to individual Aces II seats (same as F15 & F16 etc).
another ejection failure caused the death of a crewmember in September 1987
They apparently hit a flock of large birds while practicing terrain following - one or more of the birds penetrated the leading edge of the wing and took out the hydraulics causing loss of control and the aircraft nosed it at something like 500 knots
Three crew were lost - there were six on-board but only four ejection seats, one died when his seat malfunctioned - the other two crew had parachutes but it happened so fast they never had a chance.
I never heard if they still allowed more crew that ejection seats after that crash.
During the capsule ejection on the B-1A #2 the parachute risers did not properly deploy, putting the capsule in a nose down, right side down, attitude. The capsule impacted the desert floor in this attitude, without the extra cushioning effect of the deployed airbags.
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Looks like medals rather than courts-martial in this case according to the SecAF:
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson on Monday confirmed speculation that the Dyess B-1 had to make an emergency landing last month after an ejection seat didn't blow.
The B-1 crew "were out training," Wilson said during a speech at the Defense Communities summit in Washington, D.C.
Aboard the aircraft she said, we [had] an instructor pilot and "a brand-new crew."
"And the indicator light goes off that they have a fire," she said. "They go through their checklist of everything they're supposed to do. The next thing on the checklist is to eject....they start the ejection sequence."
Only "the cover comes off, and nothing else happens," she said, referring to the weapons systems officer's ejection hatch. "The seat doesn't fire. Within two seconds of knowing that that had happened, the aircraft commander says, 'Cease ejection, we'll try to land.'"
The B-1 crew "were out training," Wilson said during a speech at the Defense Communities summit in Washington, D.C.
Aboard the aircraft she said, we [had] an instructor pilot and "a brand-new crew."
"And the indicator light goes off that they have a fire," she said. "They go through their checklist of everything they're supposed to do. The next thing on the checklist is to eject....they start the ejection sequence."
Only "the cover comes off, and nothing else happens," she said, referring to the weapons systems officer's ejection hatch. "The seat doesn't fire. Within two seconds of knowing that that had happened, the aircraft commander says, 'Cease ejection, we'll try to land.'"
The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. May 1. Local media reported at the time the non-nuclear B-1B was not carrying weapons when it requested to land because of "an engine flameout."
Weeks later, images surfaced on Facebook purporting to show a burnt-out engine from the incident. Photos from The Associated Press and Midland Reporter-Telegram also showed the B-1B, tail number 86-0109, was missing a ceiling hatch, leading to speculation an in-flight ejection was attempted.
The back ceiling hatch, which hovers over either the offensive or defensive weapons systems officer depending on mission set, was open, although all four crew members were shown sitting on the Midland flightline in photos.
Unidentified individuals told the popular Facebook group Air Force Amn/Nco/Snco that the offensive weapons system officer attempted a manual ejection, but the ACES II seat did not blow, leading the crew to make an emergency landing instead.
Officials on Tuesday said the investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
Wilson praised the aircrew for their attempts to land while the back-seat airman was sitting on a seat that could still blow with just one bit of turbulence from the aircraft.
"The courage it took and the values represented by that aircraft commander who decided we're going to try for all of us to make it rather than sacrifice the one guy who can't get out. Those are the men and women who choose to wear the uniform of the U.S. Air Force," Wilson said.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/...down-ends.html