Dyess B-1 damaged

Now we know one of the reasons it's still there. One of the system operator hatches (I believe the DSO) was blown. There's a picture of the plane on the ground at Midland that shows the hatch missing. That's at least a month to replace and inspect the airframe.

Pay no attention to the stupidity of the author, but the picture is in this article.

www.airforcetimes.com...

I was checking the author....and saw the related bit on the news page

Minot Air Force Base loses machine gun — two weeks after losing grenade launcher ammo

now that is recent I guess....I'm side steppin...apologies

That's making me crack up....

I love that first pic of that long drink of a bird

a reply to: Zaphod58

Interesting that this was just posted, granted it's from the airlift section of Dyess, butttttt...
317 airlift commander

This was posted on social media about a minute ago.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Holy Hades. #Maintenanceissues

a reply to: HomeyKXTA

From what some of the B-1 guys are saying, the hatch alone is a month long impoundment to do the necessary inspections and replace it. And they've got to get one from AMARG because that's not a spares item, and the few spares they had have been used

Off topic for a sec how are the Bones they sent over here to Auss going?Skies have been quiet

a reply to: Blackfinger

They might have left. The forward deployment plan was to turn Australia into another Guam and rotate bomber units through periodically. I haven't heard anything in awhile about if they reached an agreement or when it would start.

a reply to: Zaphod58

a commanders worst nightmare
"The emergency landing of a B-1B Lancer bomber at Midland International Air Space Port in Midland County, Texas on May 1st reportedly involved heroic action on the part of the crew to save both the aircraft and a potentially stranded crewmember following a serious ejector seat malfunction."

a reply to: HomeyKXTA

I'm not going with what was said in that article until I see it in the AIB report. There are other reasons to pop that particular hatch. The way these guys are trained, if the AC comes on and says, "Eject! Eject! Eject!" then by the third eject people are gone. Or of that light comes on people are pulling the handle. So if they had tried to eject, I would think that at least one would have gone. They wouldn't sit around waiting to make sure the OSO seat fired first.

It's possible that his seat did fail, they've had issues with the seats before, but until there's official confirmation I'm not buying it.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Theres a lot more non secure airspace here than the states for the Bones to do some high level training..The biggest problem is parts acquirement if something went wrong..Guam is a long way from Amberly.

When I went through on Monday it looked like they had the hydraulic system active. The elevators were level, meaning they had pressure. Otherwise they'd be hanging down.

There's a rumor on social media that they've grounded the fleet because of this incident.

Global Strike Command confirmed that there was a problem with the OSO ejection seat. They were a lot closer to losing that aircraft than even I thought. The fire started in the over wing fairing, and burned down into the #3 engine before spreading to #4.

I wish I could say I was surprised...when I was on them we had good maintainers that literally worked themselves into the ground to keep the pigs flying and they still broke in a major way often.


Maintenance is not what it used to be (no this is not an old guy saying in my day) we used to ground planes if we had problems, now they just write it up for a check after flight so the MC rate looks good.


I honestly expect to keep seeing this happen more often, we will see it in planes like the B-1 to start but it will spread.


My guess through fog and age, if it started in the over wing fairing the flex line for the hydraulic system was the catalyst.


We had those lines crack, or develop pin hole leaks probably at least once ever 2 weeks or so at ellsworth.

a reply to: Irishhaf

You're probably right. They were climbing out of a low level when the OWF Fire Warning activated. They probably bounced around, and the line rubbed on something and popped a hole into it.

a reply to: Zaphod58


I am glad they all got out ok, but that was one plane I had zero interest in every getting an incentive ride in.


While on it I was blunt with my crews, if you can find a new platform to fly, the starting and stopping production, changing companies for parts etc made it dangerous in my opinion.


Yea when everything works its an absolute beast in the war zone... when everything works.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I'm actually surprised we haven't lost more of them. They tore the hell out of this one and got it down, which says a lot about the crew, and actually the aircraft. As much as I bitch about it and agree with you, they were still sitting in the hangar at 37 days when we went by yesterday. That's a lot of inspection and work time, and it's still being worked on.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hopefully this kind of stand down won't effect the timeline of the B-21(ie:sped up).
Let the Raider grow before it's unleashed.
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