Posted on Jan 5, 2017
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Glad it fell in the middle on nowhere and happy they had seven other engines to land safely!
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. — An engine dropped out of a B-52 bomber during a training flight on Wednesday, the Air Force has confirmed following questions from Defense News.
Because the B-52 runs on eight Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3/103 turbofan engines, pilots were able to land the aircraft safely without any injury to the five personnel on board. The Air Force has since dispatched a UH-1N Huey helicopter to recover engine debris, which was found located in an unpopulated area about 25 nautical miles northeast of Minot Air Force Base, an Air Force spokesman said in a statement.
There were no weapons onboard the B-52, which belongs to Minot Air Force Base's 5th Bomb Wing and was conducting a training mission, he said.
The service was not able to provide the root cause of the mishap, but the spokesman said an initial safety investigation has been initiated.
The incident could also ignite debate about whether and how to re-engine the service’s B-52 inventory. The Boeing-manufactured bomber has been flying since 1952 and is expected to remain operating until around 2040, depending on when it is fully replaced by the Northrop Grumman’s B-21.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs COL Lee Flemming LTC Stephen F. LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas SGT Robert George SFC William Farrell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL ] PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SrA Christopher Wright SGT John " Mac " McConnell SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt (Join to see) 1stSgt Chris Schmidt SFC George Smith SSgt (Join to see)
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. — An engine dropped out of a B-52 bomber during a training flight on Wednesday, the Air Force has confirmed following questions from Defense News.
Because the B-52 runs on eight Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3/103 turbofan engines, pilots were able to land the aircraft safely without any injury to the five personnel on board. The Air Force has since dispatched a UH-1N Huey helicopter to recover engine debris, which was found located in an unpopulated area about 25 nautical miles northeast of Minot Air Force Base, an Air Force spokesman said in a statement.
There were no weapons onboard the B-52, which belongs to Minot Air Force Base's 5th Bomb Wing and was conducting a training mission, he said.
The service was not able to provide the root cause of the mishap, but the spokesman said an initial safety investigation has been initiated.
The incident could also ignite debate about whether and how to re-engine the service’s B-52 inventory. The Boeing-manufactured bomber has been flying since 1952 and is expected to remain operating until around 2040, depending on when it is fully replaced by the Northrop Grumman’s B-21.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs COL Lee Flemming LTC Stephen F. LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas SGT Robert George SFC William Farrell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL ] PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SrA Christopher Wright SGT John " Mac " McConnell SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt (Join to see) 1stSgt Chris Schmidt SFC George Smith SSgt (Join to see)
Engine Drops Out of B-52 During Training at Minot Air Force Base
Posted from defensenews.com
B-52H Pilot
Airmen
Minot AFB
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 11
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The initial hack is that there was a catastrophic engine failure - no fault other than on the engine itself. Our maintainers do an excellent job of keeping these birds safe and operable for us.
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I told a retired B-52 pilot about this today and his response was "oh no, how did he land it with only 7 engines?" He was glad that no one was injured though.
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Wow, I too am very thankful that the B-52 Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3/103 turbofan engines which dropped during a training mission flight did not hurt anybody TSgt Joe C..
On engine falling from the sky seems to be a maintenance issue and not a systemic issue. If other planes drop their engines in flight this could be more serious; but, this should not affect the operational life of the venerable B-52 IMHO.
I was amused that the USAF spokesman listed the distance in nautical miles since the area it landed in is on land contiguous with the land that Minot Air Force Base is located on.
After SN Greg Wright pointed out that air travel is measured in nautical miles I decided to find out why. Nautical mile is directly related to longitude and latitude. The nautical mile is 1/60 of a degree [one minute of arc] along a meridian of longitude.
"The big point about using nautical miles (and their corresponding speed unit, knots) is to make chart reading quicker. Charts use Latitude and Longitude, because, well, that's how you find things. Therefore they have the Latitude and Longitude grid printed on them. The grid spacing that equals one minute of latitude also equals one nautical mile. This means you can instantly judge multiples of miles off the chart with any handing measuring stick (such as a thumb)."
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2653,00.html
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SP5 Mark Kuzinski LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SFC William Farrell SSgt (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) SGT Forrest Stewart SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Capt Tom Brown SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt Robert Marx SGT Robert George PO2 Ed C.
On engine falling from the sky seems to be a maintenance issue and not a systemic issue. If other planes drop their engines in flight this could be more serious; but, this should not affect the operational life of the venerable B-52 IMHO.
I was amused that the USAF spokesman listed the distance in nautical miles since the area it landed in is on land contiguous with the land that Minot Air Force Base is located on.
After SN Greg Wright pointed out that air travel is measured in nautical miles I decided to find out why. Nautical mile is directly related to longitude and latitude. The nautical mile is 1/60 of a degree [one minute of arc] along a meridian of longitude.
"The big point about using nautical miles (and their corresponding speed unit, knots) is to make chart reading quicker. Charts use Latitude and Longitude, because, well, that's how you find things. Therefore they have the Latitude and Longitude grid printed on them. The grid spacing that equals one minute of latitude also equals one nautical mile. This means you can instantly judge multiples of miles off the chart with any handing measuring stick (such as a thumb)."
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2653,00.html
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SP5 Mark Kuzinski LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SFC William Farrell SSgt (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) SGT Forrest Stewart SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Capt Tom Brown SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt Robert Marx SGT Robert George PO2 Ed C.
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SN Greg Wright
All aviation communication about distance is nautical miles, Colonel, even from land-locked takeoff-to-landing points.
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LTC Stephen F.
SN Greg Wright - Thanks for letting me know.
I was curious about why. Therefore I did some basic research which indicates that the nautical mile is 1/60 of a degree "along a meridian of longitude"
"Why do sailors and air navigators use nautical miles? Aren't ordinary miles good enough?
THE ORDINARY, or statute mile is an arbitrary length of no particular significance in navigational calculations. However if I move one nautical mile along a meridian of longitude, the 'north south' lines on a map, my longitude changes by one minute of arc, which is one sixtieth of a degree. If I move along a great circle, the shortest distance between two points on the earth, one nautical mile again is one sixtieth of a degree. Over long distances this gives a link between distance and latitude and longitude. Over the short distances of weekend sailing or private pilot flying the link is rarely of any significance. One nautical mile is 1.15 statute miles, and a speed of one knot is one nautical mile per hour, or one degree along a meridian per hour.
(Prof) Harvey Rutt, Dept of Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton ( [login to see] .ac.uk)
Professor Rutt's answer is undoubtedly accurate, but some readers may miss the point. The big point about using nautical miles (and their corresponding speed unit, knots) is to make chart reading quicker. Charts use Latitude and Longitude, because, well, that's how you find things. Therefore they have the Latitude and Longitude grid printed on them. The grid spacing that equals one minute of latitude also equals one nautical mile. This means you can instantly judge multiples of miles off the chart with any handing measuring stick (such as a thumb). This is invaluable on a heaving chart table to a (probably heaving) navigator.
Paul Reilly, Tylers Green
I believe One Nautical Mile equals 1/60 of a degree and not a whole degree as stated.
Vasco da Gama, Sines, Portuga"
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2653,00.html
I was curious about why. Therefore I did some basic research which indicates that the nautical mile is 1/60 of a degree "along a meridian of longitude"
"Why do sailors and air navigators use nautical miles? Aren't ordinary miles good enough?
THE ORDINARY, or statute mile is an arbitrary length of no particular significance in navigational calculations. However if I move one nautical mile along a meridian of longitude, the 'north south' lines on a map, my longitude changes by one minute of arc, which is one sixtieth of a degree. If I move along a great circle, the shortest distance between two points on the earth, one nautical mile again is one sixtieth of a degree. Over long distances this gives a link between distance and latitude and longitude. Over the short distances of weekend sailing or private pilot flying the link is rarely of any significance. One nautical mile is 1.15 statute miles, and a speed of one knot is one nautical mile per hour, or one degree along a meridian per hour.
(Prof) Harvey Rutt, Dept of Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton ( [login to see] .ac.uk)
Professor Rutt's answer is undoubtedly accurate, but some readers may miss the point. The big point about using nautical miles (and their corresponding speed unit, knots) is to make chart reading quicker. Charts use Latitude and Longitude, because, well, that's how you find things. Therefore they have the Latitude and Longitude grid printed on them. The grid spacing that equals one minute of latitude also equals one nautical mile. This means you can instantly judge multiples of miles off the chart with any handing measuring stick (such as a thumb). This is invaluable on a heaving chart table to a (probably heaving) navigator.
Paul Reilly, Tylers Green
I believe One Nautical Mile equals 1/60 of a degree and not a whole degree as stated.
Vasco da Gama, Sines, Portuga"
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2653,00.html
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