70 punished in accidental B-52 flight
70 punished in accidental B-52 flight
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Air Force said Friday it would punish 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber following an investigation that found widespread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base," said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.
Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the Aug. 29-30 incident in which the B-52 was inadvertently armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot in North Dakota to Barksdale in Louisiana without anyone noticing the mistake for more than a day.
The missiles were supposed to be taken to Louisiana, but the warheads were supposed to have been removed beforehand.
A main reason for the error was that crews had decided not to follow a complex schedule under which the status of the missiles is tracked while they are disarmed, loaded, moved and so on, one official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The airmen replaced the schedule with their own "informal" system, he said, though he didn't say why they did that nor how long they had been doing it their own way.
"This was an unacceptable mistake and a clear deviation from our exacting standards," Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne said at a Pentagon press conference with Newton. "We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken."
Newton acknowledged that the Air Force needs to "restore the confidence" lost among the American people after the August incident, which raised questions about the safety of the country's nuclear arsenal.
"We are making all appropriate changes to ensure this has a minimal chance of ever happening again," Wynne said.
Newton said the flight in question resulted from an "unprecedented string of procedural errors," beginning with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded aboard the B-52 bomber at Minot. The crew flying the plane was unaware nuclear warheads were on its wing, though it wasn't explained what role they played in the mistake.
Highest among those to be punished are four officers who were relieved this week of their commands, including the 5th Bomb Wing commander at Minot - Col. Bruce Emig, who also has been the base commander since June.
In addition, the wing has been "decertified from its wartime mission," Newton said.
Some 65 airmen have been decertified from handling nuclear weapons. The certification process looks at a person's psychological profile, any medications they are taking and other factors in determining a person's reliability to handle weapons.
After it was loaded with the missiles, the B-52 sat overnight at Minot, flew the next morning to Louisiana, and then sat on a tarmac again for hours before anyone noticed the nuclear warheads.
Newton avoided repeated questions on what extra security would have been required if crews had known the nuclear weapons were on the plane. But another official later said privately that security was increased as soon as the nuclear warheads were discovered.
The Air Combat Command ordered a command-wide stand-down - instituted base by base and completed Sept. 14 - to set aside time for personnel to review procedures, officials said.
The incident was so serious that it required President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to be quickly informed.
Wynne prefaced his remarks about the B-52 incident by saying that, in publicly confirming that nuclear weapons were involved, he had authorized a one-time exception to U.S. policy, which states that the location of nuclear weapons will never be confirmed publicly. He said he made this exception because of the seriousness of the episode and its importance to the nation.
The weapon involved was the Advanced Cruise Missile, a "stealth" weapon developed in the 1980s with the ability to evade detection by Soviet radar. The Air Force said in March that it had decided to retire the Advanced Cruise Missile fleet soon, and officials said after the breach that the missiles were being flown to Barksdale for decommissioning.
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Air Force said Friday it would punish 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber following an investigation that found widespread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base," said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.
Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the Aug. 29-30 incident in which the B-52 was inadvertently armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot in North Dakota to Barksdale in Louisiana without anyone noticing the mistake for more than a day.
The missiles were supposed to be taken to Louisiana, but the warheads were supposed to have been removed beforehand.
A main reason for the error was that crews had decided not to follow a complex schedule under which the status of the missiles is tracked while they are disarmed, loaded, moved and so on, one official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The airmen replaced the schedule with their own "informal" system, he said, though he didn't say why they did that nor how long they had been doing it their own way.
"This was an unacceptable mistake and a clear deviation from our exacting standards," Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne said at a Pentagon press conference with Newton. "We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken."
Newton acknowledged that the Air Force needs to "restore the confidence" lost among the American people after the August incident, which raised questions about the safety of the country's nuclear arsenal.
"We are making all appropriate changes to ensure this has a minimal chance of ever happening again," Wynne said.
Newton said the flight in question resulted from an "unprecedented string of procedural errors," beginning with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded aboard the B-52 bomber at Minot. The crew flying the plane was unaware nuclear warheads were on its wing, though it wasn't explained what role they played in the mistake.
Highest among those to be punished are four officers who were relieved this week of their commands, including the 5th Bomb Wing commander at Minot - Col. Bruce Emig, who also has been the base commander since June.
In addition, the wing has been "decertified from its wartime mission," Newton said.
Some 65 airmen have been decertified from handling nuclear weapons. The certification process looks at a person's psychological profile, any medications they are taking and other factors in determining a person's reliability to handle weapons.
After it was loaded with the missiles, the B-52 sat overnight at Minot, flew the next morning to Louisiana, and then sat on a tarmac again for hours before anyone noticed the nuclear warheads.
Newton avoided repeated questions on what extra security would have been required if crews had known the nuclear weapons were on the plane. But another official later said privately that security was increased as soon as the nuclear warheads were discovered.
The Air Combat Command ordered a command-wide stand-down - instituted base by base and completed Sept. 14 - to set aside time for personnel to review procedures, officials said.
The incident was so serious that it required President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to be quickly informed.
Wynne prefaced his remarks about the B-52 incident by saying that, in publicly confirming that nuclear weapons were involved, he had authorized a one-time exception to U.S. policy, which states that the location of nuclear weapons will never be confirmed publicly. He said he made this exception because of the seriousness of the episode and its importance to the nation.
The weapon involved was the Advanced Cruise Missile, a "stealth" weapon developed in the 1980s with the ability to evade detection by Soviet radar. The Air Force said in March that it had decided to retire the Advanced Cruise Missile fleet soon, and officials said after the breach that the missiles were being flown to Barksdale for decommissioning.
0
-
air farce.....[xx(]
go NAVY.0 -
With certified load crews, I guess Catpealer won't have to worry about going TDY anytime soon! Recertification and reinstating PRP status won't be done too quickly. 0 -
Boys will be boys. A few nukes missing and being flown around the country by guys who decided to ingore SOP is nothing when compared to the danger of a single Mexican truck on our highways. 0 -
Why decommision them when other Country's have obviously have acquired them and are making more missles and we keep getting rid of ours?[?] 0 -
President Merkin Muffley: General Turgidson! When you instituted the human reliability tests, you *assured* me there was *no* possibility of such a thing *ever* occurring!
General "Buck" Turgidson: Well, I, uh, don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir.
[}:)][:0][;)][:p]0 -
i really dont see this as a big deal. the nukes werent armed and couldnt have created a nuclear explosion. the media however kept giving that impression. hazardous material is moved everyday across america. this is no different.
the crews deserved discipline but i think the media and military went overboard.
the danger was blown way out of proportion0 -
Were the arming "black boxes" also installed in the aircraft? Those black boxes are just as important. And they are stored securely until just prior to a mission. A real mission. Dime to a dollar the cruise missles were incapable of being armed inflight. And a crash would not cause the nuclear stores to detonate. Just several acres of contaminated soil.
And, think about it..the missiles have to be destination programmed. If they were dropped from the bomber accidently, and if the engine was able to start, there would be no program input to tell the missile where to go. This is all media hype.
The only thing that irks me is the possibility (very remote chance) that they could have been lost due to shoddy tracking procedures. Joe0 -
quote:Originally posted by Nighthawk
Why decommision them when other Country's have obviously have acquired them and are making more missles and we keep getting rid of ours?[?]
Because we could get rid of a thousand of our nukes and still have more than enough to wipe everyone off the map. Heck, we could get rid of two thousand and, excepting Russia, have more nuclear warheads than the rest of the world combined.[8D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by scrumpyjack
With certified load crews, I guess Catpealer won't have to worry about going TDY anytime soon! Recertification and reinstating PRP status won't be done too quickly.
The incident had nothing to do with my Squadron. The only crew chiefs that were temporarily decerted were the ones who were actually in contact with the aircraft. When the investigation found that we had no fault in this, the focus was taken of of the Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and put mainly on the Munition Squadron. Us on the aircraft maintenance side can't tell the difference between a live weapon or just an empty shell unless we're told.0 -
it was not just the weapons maintenance personnel (BB stackers)
not just the Weapons Load crew (Load Toads)
it had to start in the munition maintenance section, tracking weapons be them inert ot live, the munitions personnel thar delivered the weapons. The Load crew that inspected the munitions failed to inspect, if they had, they would have known they were nucs.
the Aircraft commander and weapons system officer, they were to inspect the weapons, well that did not happen.
I figure the wing commander, the weapons safety officer, the munition maintenance officer, along with the chief.
the weapons dispatcher on duty, the drives that delivered, (it could have been there fault) that snowballed to hell. the Load crew that loaded the aircraft, there commander, security police had a small part to play, when live nucs leave the igloo's they are guarded.
so after they all lost their PRP, the base was decertified,
everyone had already had to fill the little bottle, the instant this hasppened, all their security paperwork was probably redone.
The load crews had to be recertified, the weapons maintenance personnel had to be recertified.
They will have a nick name for a long long time,0 -
Difference bewteen the Boy Scouts and the Air Force................Boy Scouts have adult supervision. 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
11 comments