We have lost a BUFF, and sadly the crew as well.
8 crew members believed dead in a B-52 bomber crash at California’s Edwards Air Force Base
I saw that on my click bait home page but assumed it was an old event.
Yeah, it is annoying how old articles pop up in the feed to make you think something new has happened - only to find old stories that were reposted to appear new.
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Ugh. This was probably the Flight Test bird that checks out new systems and weapons for compatibility.
Prayers for the crew, families and all concerned.
That makes sense, as it could explain the oversize crew and the Edwards location. I would not expect an operational bomber to be working there.
I used to get a magazine where one of the annuals had every DOD air facility, the units and the number of aircraft of each type based there - for many years Edwards has had one B-52 under 419th Flight Test Sq. I watch the BUFs because these were once Grandpa’s birds, the Huns he wrenched at Hahn and the Sixes at McChord long gone for scrapmetal.
At low altitude, only the pilots and ECM operator can get out - the nav seats on the lower deck fire downward and the three jumpseats have to manually jump. This was something I had proposed to address in an upgrades white-paper, stretching the crew compartment to move personnel upstairs and electronics and amenities down so that everyone gets a Zero-Zero bangseat.
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I just saw the photo’s, that’s a hell of a way to go.
You have maybe two seconds to undersatnd what’s happening before impact.
On the same day.
Even worse for the navs, a black hole where your instruments and a TV screen are your only window to the world. And in a crash YOU go squish first.
I don’t understand why the huge plane banked so hard at such low altitude. This is almost a clone of another video where a huge US Mil plane did the same thing years ago. Pilot error?
Possibly.
The steep bank at slow speed and low altitude is also symptomatic of a stall. The wing that loses lift first will initiate a steep bank to that side.
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Years ago a DC-10 did this same thing out of O’Hare Airport in Chicago.
The Plane took off, lost and engine and did that same Left Banking turn way too low to the ground and crashed in to a Glass Factory. All Souls were Lost.
I think the one you might be referring to happened at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, WA, in 1994. A demo flight where the pilot was arrogant and FAFO.
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The ultimate “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass”?… 
I know there’s more to it, but it looks like such a silly crash.
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It’s like some sort of awkward slow turn and then gravity takes over.
Sounds almost like Dutch Roll, which has plagued BUFs at low level from the beginning.
Yup, still taught as a leadership lesson today.
Yeah that pilot killed his whole crew hot-dogging it. I remember when that happened and seeing the video of it.
Is there video of the crash that shows this happening? All I have seen so far are still photos of a big black smudge that used to be a Stratofortress.
Very sad event for sure.
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