The B-1B accident report highlights the airman’s weight, and the family claims unfair blame

One criticism was that Smith said the report inaccurately listed the airman’s alleged weight as “close to 260” pounds, which the report indicated exceeded the maximum of 245 pounds, which the investigator said “further highlights the degradation of the unit’s culture and discipline.”

Smith detailed in her letter and in an interview with Military.com that her son-in-law never officially weighed more than 245 pounds, was never disqualified from flying, and passed his last fitness test just six weeks before the accident. She said his alleged weight in the report was taken in a hospital bed, which she called an inaccurate and unfair way to gather that data, especially since he was bandaged and swollen from the accident.

“A medical professional at Monument Health stated that hospital bed weights are not accurate body measurements,” Smith wrote. “Weight was taken after the accident with a neck brace, a boot brace, pelvic binder, leg binder, blanket, layers of bedding and pads, remote pain control, multiple IVs, multiple tubes and cords, triple bandage wounds, hospital. gown and blood pressure belt.”

Even though her son-in-law is still recovering from serious back injuries from ejecting from the B-1B Lancer, Smith said he may face disciplinary action because of his alleged weight.

The accident that injured Smith’s son-in-law happened on January 4 at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The B-1B Lancer, valued at $450 million, was on a training exercise with four crew members on board. The bomber crashed about 100 feet short of the runway, skidded more than 5,000 feet onto the tarmac, and then burst into flames.

All four crew members ejected safely; Smith’s son-in-law suffered multiple fractures and severely injured his spine.

Colonel Erick Lord, chairman of the Accident Investigation Board, issued a scathing report that was released late last month. The report pointed to “failure to perform standard crew resource management”, along with adverse weather conditions, ineffective oversight of flight operations, lack of awareness and “an unhealthy organizational culture that allowed the degradation of aviation skills” as contributing factors to the accident. Military.com first reported.

Lord also singled out the instructor pilot’s weight, saying that “in a review of post-accident medical records, there is evidence that (the instructor pilot’s) weight exceeded the maximum weight limit of the ACES II ejection seat (211 lbs.) and Air Force– adjusted maximum weight limit (245 lbs.) for safe and efficient use.”

The report claims the instructor pilot was just under the weight limit of 245 pounds before the accident and states that the post-accident report of nearly 260 pounds “likely contributed to the severity of the injuries observed following the accident.”

Air Force Global Strike Command did not respond to many of the specific claims in Smith’s letter that Military.com detailed, but said the organization is taking action as a result of the report’s findings.

“The AIB report details the cause of the accident, the crew landing off the runway and additional factors that contributed to the accident,” Air Force Global Strike Command spokesman Lt. Col. John Severns told Military.com. “The 28th Bomb Wing has been working to address these factors, plus taking appropriate administrative action. The Air Force does not discuss the results of these types of actions because they are protected by the Privacy Act.”

About a week after the findings became public, the commander of the 28th Operations Group was dismissed from his role “due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command, based on the findings of an Accident Investigation Board report dated 4 January. crash of a B-1B bomber at Ellsworth,” Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement.

Lord targeted in the report 28 Operational Support Squadron and 34 Bomb Squadron, both under the command of the commander of Operations Group 28, saying “lack of effective oversight of flight operations” and “non-communication of airfield and weather”. capabilities and conditions all speak to culture and leadership issues.”

The incident marked the first time in more than a decade that a B-1B Lancer had crashed. The previous crash occurred in August 2013, when a bomber flying from Ellsworth crashed near Broadus, Montana, causing fire damage to private property and destroying the aircraft.

Smith explained that the recent accident was already a lot for the crew to deal with, but Lord’s subsequent report caused even more stress and worry for the airmen and others at the base.

The crew member’s mother-in-law also pursued other details in the report, claiming icing and wind shear played a bigger role in the crash than the findings say, and said Lord’s “comments are red hot with hatred and disrespect for outstanding aviators of the 34th Bomb Squadron”.

Airmen and aircrew who worked at Ellsworth, who spoke to Military.com on condition of anonymity to discuss base culture, said the report hurt morale and made them feel like they weren’t committed to their jobs, especially when when members of the B-1B Lancer Community say they already do more with fewer people, aircraft and resources compared to other aircraft.

“Whenever you get a hit like that, it really hurts morale,” said one former airman. “It gave the impression that one mistake was made and you’d be hung out to dry, and the main reason why this mistake was made was not a culture of reckless disregard for regulation, but incredibly inexperienced people being pushed around. hard and too fast.”

Another former Ellsworth crew member told Military.com that the airman whose weight was criticized in the report is physically fit and lifts weights regularly. The pilot said criticisms like the one in Lord’s report hurt members of the B-1B community not just in South Dakota, but in Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, who also flies the bomber.

“I think it’s unfair,” the former crew member said. “I don’t think they ever got to the root cause of the problem… We don’t have enough manpower left for the squadrons to be equipped at whatever full rate it is now.”

Just months before the crash, in November, the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth received the Fairchild Trophy for winning the Global Strike Challenge – a competition that showcases the wing’s operational and maintenance skills.

Lord’s criticism of Ellsworth’s B-1B Lancer unit comes as the Air Force plans to eventually phase out the aging bomber, which was first introduced in the 1980s, for the new B-21 Raider.

The Defense Department has said it plans to buy somewhere around 100 B-21s, more than the Air Force’s current B-2 and B-1B Lancer fleets combined. Each new bomber costs about $700 million, according to a service fact sheet.

Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement to Military.com that there is a proposal to temporarily relocate 17 B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth to Grand Forks Air Force Base in nearby North Dakota between February and November 2025 for approximately 10 months to work on runway repairs in preparation for the upcoming arrival of the B-21.

Additionally, approximately 800 Ellsworth employees would transfer to Grand Forks to support B-1B operations.