Broken B-1B flown from Afghanistan for repairs - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Broken B-1B flown from Afghanistan for repairs

How many airmen does it take to get a broken B-1B Lancer bomber out of Afghanistan?

Hundreds, from veteran pilots who flew the crippled bomber to maintainers who pulled out the damaged engine.

On Aug. 26 a B-1B bomber made an emergency landing at Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan after the jet’s No. 4 engine caught fire.

While investigators set about to discover what went wrong, teams from Air Force Materiel Command were summoned to figure how to get the $238 million bomber out of Afghanistan and to a friendlier location where the aircraft could be repaired.

Among the Materiel Command units summoned were:

* 419th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where aircrews had background on flying a B-1B with three engines and other difficult circumstances.

* 10th Flight Test Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., which conducts functional check flights on B-1Bs following depot level maintenance. The squadron also has operational risk management experts.

* 555th Aircraft Sustainment Squadron, Tinker, where engineers provided technical analysis needed for damage assessment and repair.

* 654th Combat Logistics Support Squadron, Tinker, whose members have expertise in aircraft battle damage repair.

* Directorate of Air, Space and Information Operations, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, which looked at past cases involving B-1B flights with three engines and evaluated the risks.

“We discussed potential hazards and mitigating conditions with Tinker engineers and aircrews from the 10th and 419th before approving the recommendation for a one-time flight movement for this B-1,” Dr. Dave Jerome, deputy director of the command’s Air, Space and Information Operations, said in an Air Force statement.

The plan to fly the B-1B on three engines out of Kandahar finally got a green light. The jet took off on Oct. 2 for a one-stop flight that eventually landed the bomber at RAF Fairford in England, where Air Force teams are working to make the plane fully airworthy.