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Once again, the Air Force in Guam is in the news. When will it ever end?


Pacific Daily News

(Agana) Around noon yesterday, a B-1 bomber declared an in-flight emergency shortly after taking off from Andersen Air Force Base, according to Capt. Joel Stark, acting chief of public affairs.

The plane returned to Andersen and landed safely. The crew members exited the plane, which then rolled into two emergency vehicles that were on the runway, Stark said.
No one was hurt in the accident.

"A panel of officers will investigate the incident," Stark said.
Stark said in-flight emergencies can be declared for a number of reasons, but it was unclear what the nature of the emergency was as of yesterday.

"Many times it's just a prudent safety precaution," Stark said.

The B-1 bomber was in transit from an air show in Singapore, Stark said. It is based out of Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

Jimmy

What the...? Did they forget to set the parking brake? That crew chief is in DEEP crap.

Fltengineer

It won't be the crew chief on this one. It sounds like the pilots forgot to set the parking brake.

glyn

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Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

omon

wow, they couldn,t find a cheaper plane to ram cars with?

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

Knaur Amarsh

Wonder how they ll explain that to the insurance company.....

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Jimmy

Where were the chocks? Those should've been set in place long before the stairs were brought up to the jet. Sounds like a few people screwed up.

Maxor

The Head crew cheif of that crew is going to be eating this one he is responsible for his airmen setting chocks, the poor amn or ab will get chewed but nothing really bad will happen to him he's at a point where he's responsible but can't be held that responsible.

glyn

McFire

I'm sure the aircraft must have still been moving when the crew egressed. What two emergency vehicles did it run into? The drivers of the crash apparatus stay in their respective trucks and remain alert so that they can move out of the way or gain better positions to protect the crews on the ground, plus they shouldn't be THAT close to the emergency aircraft anyway (always leave yourself an egress route!). Typically, the emergency aircraft would be chocked as soon as it shuts down its engines, so someone dropped the ball big-time on this incident.

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McFire

McFire

According to the Air Force Times, the B-1 had stopped at Guam (Andersen AFB) on its way back to Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, after participating in the Singapore Air Show. After take-off, one of the jet's hydraulic systems failed, prompting its return to Guam. The B-1 landed and came to a stop on a taxiway. Emergency crews spotted leaking hydraulic fluid, prompting the aircrew to shut down the engines and climb out of the aircraft. While all of this was going on, no one put chocks next to the aircraft's tires to prevent it from moving. It was unclear whether the aircraft's brakes were engaged.
The B-1B rolled down the pavement on its own, striking two P-23 fire trucks with its left wing. The plane came to a stop with one of the trucks wedged under the wing. The other truck had a smashed windshield and cab. No one was injured.
As I said in my previous post, someone dropped the ball big time on this one. The first thing that should happened as soon as the engines were shutdown was for the tires to be chocked, to prevent events just like this! I'm just curious as to what everyone there was doing while the aircraft was rolling Was anyone paying attention, or was everyone standing around BSing then happened to turn around after they heard a big CRUNCH!
They official reports should be interesting.

Maxor

Once everyone was out of the plane even if it was rolling, fairly slowly it would have still been pretty difficult to stop the plane. Most chocks won't stop an aircraft that is allready rolling, no one can get into the plane if the age isn't aligned with the door and its rather tough to try and climb the side of a plane as its rolling. Sounds like the wing will need x-rayed to make sure there isn't any cracks and alot of sheet metal skin replacement.