Reporter-News Archives

Saturday, February 21, 1998

Dyess bombers flying again

By TANYA EISERER / Abilene Reporter-News

Two days after a Dyess Air Force Base B-1B bomber plunged into a Kentucky pasture, base commander Brig. Gen. Mike McMahan took to the skies on a routine training mission.

"It was good to get out with the maintenance troops and aircrews," McMahan said after returning to Dyess Friday afternoon. "My flight was great. It's good to get back in the air. The B-1 is a super airplane, and it is always a pleasure to fly."

Details of McMahan's training mission, which had been scheduled before the accident, were not available, base officials said.

A one-day stand-down of all B-1B bomber flights, ordered by McMahan in response to Wednesday's crash, ended with the resumption of flights Friday morning, said Maj. John Boyle, chief of Dyess' public affairs office.

"If he wasn't confident in the B-1's maintenance, safety and flying standards, we would not be flying," Boyle explained. "It is the wing commander's responsibility to determine the safety of all operations. If he had any questions about the B-1 safety, the wing would not be flying.

"It is absolutely business as usual."

Boyle said several other routine missions were conducted besides McMahan's flight.

Boyle said the temporary stand-down was intended to give base leadership an opportunity to talk to wing personnel and review operational and safety procedures.

"We just want to make sure that nothing here on base contributed to the crash," he said.

"Dyess people spent much of the day (Thursday) collecting background and records that the investigators will need to conduct an investigation into why the aircraft crashed in Kentucky."

Meanwhile, the job of determining the problem that brought down the aircraft and caused its four-man crew to eject is now in the hands of an Air Force investigative team.

Members of a safety review board, appointed by Air Combat Command, arrived in Kentucky Friday afternoon to investigate what happened and to determine how it can be avoided, Boyle said.

An interim safety review team secured the site and conducted a preliminary investigation, he said.

Maj. Thomas Arko, assistant director of operations for the 28th Bomb Squadron and a B-1B pilot, is a member of the safety review board, Boyle added.

"He would be a fairly senior pilot and, obviously, a subject matter expert on the B-1B," Boyle said.

Arko and Lt. Don Kerr, deputy of public information, left Friday morning, Boyle said.

A second team, called the accident investigation board, will determine what went wrong with the aircraft in order "to affix responsibility" for the crash, Boyle said.

"They do their work after the safety board does its work," Boyle said. "It will be primarily a legal document" that will be released to the public in about 90 days.

The safety report, which will take about a month to complete, is mainly an internal document, and only portions of it will be public information, he said.

The crew ejected from the aircraft minutes before it crashed and exploded into an open field near Mattoon, Ky., about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. The B-1B, named "The Hellion," barely missed hitting a farmhouse.

The plane was on a training mission that included low-level and high-level maneuvers and air-to-air refueling.

The B-1B flew about 12 miles after the crew ejected, passing over a small community. No one on the ground was injured.

The crew members, who will be interviewed by both the safety and accident review teams, are expected to remain in Kentucky another week, McMahan said Thursday.

All four -- Lt. Col. Daniel Charchian, Capt. Kevin Schields, Capt. Jeffery Sabella and 1st Lt. Bert Winslow -- were in excellent condition Friday at Blanchfield Army Hospital in Fort Campbell, Ky.