Eight people are presumed dead after a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday morning at a US air force base in California's Mojave Desert, officials said.
Crash Details
An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine test mission crashed shortly after takeoff at 11:20 a.m., Edwards Air Force Base said in a statement Monday afternoon. Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable. Emergency response personnel are on scene, and officials are working to account for all personnel.
Those who died comprised military members, government employees and civilian contractors, according to James Hayes, the deputy commander at Edwards Air Force Base. Officials do not plan to release the names of those who died until after next of kin are notified, he said. "Right now our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their loved ones," Hayes said at a news conference.
Aftermath and Investigation
Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft. Black smoke rose from a large swath of charred desert near what appeared to be a runway, with emergency vehicles nearby. The military has not said whether the bomber was armed.
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, typically crewed by five people, is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955. Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts from the Vietnam War to recent operations in the Middle East.
The plane was being flown on a test mission as part of a program to modernize its radar from analog to digital, according to ABC News 7. The program aims to keep planes like the one that crashed in service until 2050, or about a century of total use.
Officials said they could not provide details about how the crash occurred. They have begun collecting information for a safety review that will be submitted to an accident investigation board, which will then determine how much of its findings to make public. The process may take up to six months.
Base Operations
The airfield remained closed Monday afternoon, and all inbound aircraft were being diverted. Non-commercial visitor passes for the base were suspended to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations, officials said.
Edwards, the vast desert base where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, is about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles.
Expert Analysis
Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety expert, said he suspects there was a flight control malfunction given how the B-52 crashed so quickly after takeoff without gaining much altitude or distance. However, it is too soon to determine the exact cause. Possible issues include incorrectly rigged controls after maintenance, a catastrophic engine problem, or failure of equipment being tested.
"I think it was definitely a controllability issue. Now, whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure, or some new testing device failure, I'm not sure," said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Although the Air Force has been flying B-52 bombers for more than 70 years, testing new equipment on a plane can create new challenges. "A flight test is always riskier than normal operations, so that's why you have specially trained test pilots and other safety protocols," Guzzetti said.
