B-1 bomber crashes in Qatar; crew safe

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Both the Associated Press and Reuters are reporting that a U.S. military B-1 bomber has crashed at an air base in Qatar. Al-Jazeera is reporting that the plane exploded. The AP, citing an unnamed military official, says the plane crashed at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which is the headquarters of American air operations in the Middle East.

Update at 5:10 p.m. ET: All four crew members safely evacuated the bomber, which the Pentagon says caught fire after landing.

Posted by Randy Lilleston at 03:49 PM/ET, April 04, 2008 in Mideast

Reports: B-1 bomber crashes in Qatar; crew safe - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

[Matt308]

$hit

[mkloby]

I'm happy the crew is safe.

[SoD Stitch]

Heard about this on NPR earlier today; heard the crew ejected safely, and that the crash was due to "mechanical failure". Unfortunately, another billion-dollar B-1 "bites the dust", literally & figuratively.

[Micdrow]

Im kinda confused, SBC Yahoo had posted yesterday it was a B-52 that crashed with same info above but has since removed it. Any one know for sure what fly's out of this base.

[evangilder]

Heard about this on NPR earlier today; heard the crew ejected safely, and that the crash was due to "mechanical failure". Unfortunately, another billion-dollar B-1 "bites the dust", literally & figuratively.

Billion dollar bomber? The unit cost on the B-1s was about $283 Million. While not cheap, it's not a "billion dollar bomber".

I'm glad the crew got out safely.

[FLYBOYJ]

And I think there's something like 30 of them in the bone yard - easily replaced if necessary.

[SoD Stitch]

Billion dollar bomber? The unit cost on the B-1s was about $283 Million. While not cheap, it's not a "billion dollar bomber".

I'm glad the crew got out safely.

I stand corrected . . . . . .

I know there have been quite a few upgrades and retrofits since the B-1 went into service, so the actual cost of the a/c is probably a little more than 283M.

And, once again, I'm plugging my (second) favorite magazine, Smithsonian's Air & Space; go here for a very recent article on the B-1's "comeback":

Air & Space Magazine | Military Aviation | The Bone is Back

[Matt308]

YouTube - Inverted Bone

[Konigstiger205]

At least the crew got out safely because after all the human factor its the most important in an army.You can have 1000 B1's, if you don't have anyone to fly them they are useless...

[SoD Stitch]

YouTube - Inverted Bone

Now, how many OTHER strategic bombers can do that? One? Zero? I don't think a Tu-160 could do that without losing a wing or two.

[Lucky13]

Glad that the crew made it out....

[Matt308]

Not wanting to take away from the exhilaration of the Bone's pilots making it home, but you have to admit that a 50m (145ft) long airplane weighing up to 148,000kgs (360,000lbs) doing a high performance roll is pretty DAMN impressive.

[evangilder]

It was REAL impressive. I saw it happen. Unfortunately, in those days I only had a 300mm lens, so I didn't cath it with the lens. I remember hearing a a collective gasp from the crowd and thought to myself "That kicked azz!"

[FLYBOYJ]

As I mentioned a few times here my father in law was the production test pilot on the B-1B. He set a whole bunch of world speed and altitude records during the 4th of July weekend, 1987. Upon returning from his last B-1 flight in front of a whole gaggle of folks he came over Plant 42 in Palmdale (Rockwell's B-1 production facility) and proceeded to do an immelman withthe wings extended - despite his pending retirement, he did get an asschewing.