look news india
The news of a very heartbreaking and horrific military plane accident has come to light on Tuesday morning from Edwards Air Force Base located in Southern California, America. The B-52 Stratofortress Bomber, the US Air Force’s most reliable, strategic and capable of carrying nuclear weapons, crashed near the runway just after take-off.
In this tragic accident that happened around 11:20 am local time on Monday, all 8 people on board the plane died on the spot. Apart from the brave soldiers of the US Air Force, those killed included highly trained engineers and technicians from the defense sector, who were working on a test mission to modernize this aircraft. The accident was so terrible that the wreckage of the plane in the desert area completely turned into a ball of fire and a cloud of black smoke spread for miles in the sky. On this incident, aviation safety experts have raised big questions on the possible technical causes of the accident and the flight control system.
Why did the plane fail immediately after take-off? Know the experts’ theory
Based on an initial assessment of the visuals and flight data that emerged immediately after the accident, international aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti shared several important technical aspects of the crash:
-
Flight Control Failure: According to Jeff Gazzetti, the crashed B-52 bomber plane could not achieve the required altitude immediately after take-off. The aircraft’s nose-down or failure to gain altitude immediately after leaving the runway directly indicates that there was a sudden and serious failure in its flight control system, due to which the pilots did not get a chance to recover.
-
Maintenance or assembly errors: Experts believe that since the aircraft was on a ‘regular test mission’, it is possible that there may have been a human or mechanical error in the control cables or software coding during its recent heavy maintenance.
-
Engine Failure or Test Equipment Blast: There are also speculations that one of the eight main engines of the aircraft may have stopped working as soon as it took off, or an internal blast may have occurred due to a short circuit in some new sensitive electronic equipment being tested in the aircraft.
Risky Test Mission: Experts made it clear that ‘Test Flights’ are many times more risky than normal military operations. In these, new components are tested to their maximum capacity, which is why there is a possibility of accident despite specially trained pilots and strict safety protocols.
Advanced AESA radar system and B-52 upgrade program
The B-52 Stratofortress, manufactured by Boeing Company, is the oldest and deadliest long-range heavy bomber in the US Air Force fleet. From the Cold War to the recent Iran military confrontation, the US has always used it as its biggest strategic bulwark.
Did the accident happen during testing of the new radar?
The US Air Force is carrying out a major modernization campaign to keep its B-52H fleet in service by 2050. under this in the year 2025 This aircraft has replaced the old radar with a very modern and powerful one. AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar system Was imposed. This new radar system gives the aircraft exceptional capability to dodge enemy air defenses and fire long range precision missiles. However, the Air Force has not yet officially clarified whether this specific aircraft that crashed was live testing the new AESA radar system or some other component.
“There was no chance of survival for anyone” – Colonel James Hayes
Deputy commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, north of Los Angeles Colonel James Hess Confirmed this irreparable loss with great emotion and a heavy heart during the press conference. Colonel Hayes told reporters, “Today we have lost eight wonderful and extraordinary American citizens. It was clear from the first moment we saw the horror of the crash site and the burning wreckage that it was completely impossible for anyone inside this aircraft to survive.”
The administrative wing of the Air Force has constituted ‘Air Force Accident Investigation Board’ (AIB) for a top-level investigation into the matter. Officials say that in recovering the black box (Flight Data Recorder) from the wreckage of the plane and thoroughly investigating its forensic and cyber coding. At least more than 6 months It may happen, only after which the real causes of this global military accident will be revealed.
