Hopes flew with lame jet
Hopes flew with lame jet
Comments 
8
By Bryan Dean
Published: November 20, 2007
A four-star general pinned medals Monday on 12 airmen and nine civilians from Tinker Air Force Base for their role in salvaging a B-1B bomber after an engine fire left the jet crippled on an airstrip in Afghanistan.
Advertisement
‘Not a natural thing'
Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command, pinned medals Monday on the Tinker airmen and civilians. The plan to fly on three engines worried him.
"This has actually been done two other times in Air Force history, but never with as much damage as was suffered in this case,” Carlson said. "I'm a fighter pilot, and a lot of my time has been spent in single-engine aircraft, so flying without one engine is not a natural thing. I wasn't inclined to go along with this.”
Members of Tinker's 654th Combat Logistics Squadron, which specializes in repairing battle-damaged B-1 bombers, convinced Carlson it could work.
With help from the civilian 555th Aircraft Sustainment Squadron, an engineering unit also based at Tinker, the airmen came up with a plan for making what repairs they could in Afghanistan before flying the jet out of hostile territory.
The airmen flew to Afghanistan in mid-September and began making the repairs. Tech Sgt. Albert Bryant said he and the rest of the maintenance crew talked with the pilots who would fly the plane, four Tinker officers from the 10th Flight Test Squadron.
"They said, ‘If you can give us an aircraft that is structurally sound and will inspect it and sign off on it, we would be comfortable flying it,'” Bryant said.
A risky flight
The pilots went to Texas to run through a series of worst-case scenarios on a B-1 simulator. Maj. Erick Peterson said some of those scenarios were a little scary. Pilots trained to fly the plane on only two engines in case another of the B-1's jets went out in-flight.
Peterson said he and his fellow pilots knew a B-1 could fly on three engines, but they also knew what they were attempting was more dangerous than those other flights.
"When they've done it in the past, it's been out of places where they only fly for about an hour or an hour and a half, and there is plenty of divert places, places where if they lose another engine or a system, they are 20 minutes away from a place they can land,” Peterson said. "We were leaving from a place where we expected to get shot at on takeoff.”
The pilots planned to fly to Qatar before re-evaluating the plane at an air base in the country and continuing to Royal Air Force Fairford in England.
If something did go wrong, the pilots had only three choices — keep going, ditch the aircraft or return to the airfield in Afghanistan. Landing a B-1 at most foreign air bases in the Middle East was not an option politically.
To make the plane lighter, crews didn't fill its gas tanks.
"We weren't low on gas, but I didn't have enough gas to fly the whole mission,” Peterson said. "We didn't take off until I heard my tanker overhead.”
After refueling in the air, the plane made its way to Qatar and landed safely. Peterson said the plane handled better than he expected, but he said the stress level was probably double that of a normal flight because of the added dangers of flying while down an engine and the potential of being shot at.
When word came back that the plane had landed safely in Qatar, Bryant said he and his fellow maintenance crew members were relieved.
"I don't think any of us took a breath for a couple of hours,” Bryant said.
The flight to England also was a success. Carlson said long-term repairs have begun on the B-1, and it will fly again — on four engines next time.
Carlson said the entire operation cost about $1 million, a small price to pay.
"That plane should have never survived,” Carlson said. "But this is a national asset. You have to try.”
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).