The Military and Veterans' Room
The U.S. Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of B-1B Bone bombers due to unspecified concerns about the aircraft's ejection seats and has no fixed timeline for when it will clear the planes to fly again. The decision comes as an investigation continues into an emergency landing involving the type in May 2018 and amid growing concerns about the readiness of the U.S. military aviation communities as a whole.
U.S. Air Force General Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all of the service's combat-coded bombers, ordered the so-called "stand-down" on June 7, 2018. On May 1, 2018, a B-1B bomber assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base made an emergency landing at Midland International Air and Space Port in Midland, Texas after declaring an in-flight emergency. The incident involved a fire in one of the aircraft's engines and resulted in an emergency exit hatch coming off in mid-air.
Unconfirmed posts on the unofficial Amn/Nco/Snco Facebook Group said that the aircraft's Offensive Weapon Systems officer tried to eject, which caused the hatch to come off, but that their Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES) II ejection seat failed. Additional notes indicated that the decision to make the emergency landing at Midland came after that individual became stuck and it remains unclear if the aircraft's pilot had ordered any of the crew to eject.
The United Technologies Corporation (UTC) seat is also found on the Air Force's A-10 Warthog, B-2 Spirit, F-15C/D Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Viper, and F-22 Raptor aircraft. There is no indication yet about whether or not the issue on the B-1s extends to the seats on any of those aircraft.....snip~
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...ejection-seats
Well this will definitely have an impact on Operations. What say ye?
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Originally Posted by Peter1469
