Fairchild AFB (Spokane)

In preparation for the 1994 Fairchild Airshow, the Pilot Lt Col Arthur A. "Bud" Holland was again selected as the command pilot for the B-52 demonstration flight. On 15 June 1994, Holland briefed the new wing commander, Colonel William Brooks, on the proposed flight plan. Holland's demonstration profile violated numerous regulations, including steep bank angles, low-altitude passes, and steep pitch attitudes. Brooks ordered Holland not to exceed 45° bank angle or 25° pitch attitude during the demonstration. During the first practice session, on 17 June, Holland repeatedly violated these orders. Brooks witnessed this, but took no action. Pellerin flew with Holland on that flight and reported to Brooks that, "the profile looks good to him; looks very safe, well within parameters." The next practice flight on 24 June ended with the fatal crash. The demonstration profile designed by Holland included a 360° turn around Fairchild's control tower, a maneuver which he had not attempted in previous air show demonstrations. During the final flight, Holland performed a series of 60° bank turns and a 68° pitch climb in violation of Brooks' orders. There is no evidence to suggest that either McGeehan or Wolff attempted to intervene as Holland carried out these dangerous maneuvers. Pellerin was originally scheduled to fly in this mission, as he had done on the 17 June flight, but he was unavailable for the 24 June flight and Wolff was selected as the replacement aircrew member. Due to the short notice of his assignment to the mission, Wolff did not participate in the pre-flight briefing and boarded the aircraft after the engines were started. He was therefore unaware of the planned mission profile and had no opportunity to raise any objections before take-off. All of the four aircrew involved in the crash had only limited flying time in the months before the crash. It would appear that none of them had noticed that the aircraft had stalled until shortly before impact, as indicated by a failure to apply standard recovery techniques to the aircraft once it entered the stall. The investigation reported that even if the proper stall recovery techniques had been applied, it was unlikely that the accident could have been prevented as the aircraft was already flying too low to be recovered.
Crew:
Lt Col Arthur A. "Bud" Holland, pilot,
Lt Col Mark C. McGeehan, copilot,
Col Robert E. Wolff, observer,
Lt Col Kenneth "Ken" Huston, operations officer.

At 1:20 p.m. on Friday, March 13, 1987, a B-52 Stratofortress and a KC-135 Stratotanker took off from Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) to practice aerial maneuvers for a 15-minute air show scheduled on Sunday, May 17, Fairchild's annual Aerospace Day. The show was to be the debut of a new aerobatics team dubbed the Thunderhawks, the brainchild of General John T. Chain Jr., commander-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). Its purpose was to demonstrate the capabilities of SAC’s large aircraft through a series exciting routines that included a low-level refueling simulation, high-bank turns, and flybys down the runway. Colonel Thomas J. Harris, commander of the 92nd Bombardment Wing at Fairchild AFB had been assigned the responsibility for the Thunderhawks’ creation and development in December 1986. The KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, No. 60-0361, had three instructor pilots aboard the aircraft: Lieutenant Colonel Michael W. Cornett, Captain Christopher Chapman, and Captain Frank B. Johnson. But no one on the ground at Fairchild knew who was actually in command of the aircraft when it took off. Also on board plane were two navigators, Captain James W. Litzinger and First Lieutenant Mark L. Meyers, and refueling-boom operator, Staff Sergeant Rodney S. Erks. The KC-135 had just taken off from runway 23, in tandem with the B-52, and was executing a steep left-hand turn when it suddenly rolled from an intended 45-degree bank to almost 90 degrees, stalling the two engines on the left wing. The crew managed to level the aircraft, but it was flying too low and slow to recover. The plane crashed landed in an open area north of the flightline, behind three large hangars, narrowly missing the base’s bombing and refueling squadron offices. It skidded through a security fence, across an access road, and killed Senior Master Sergeant Paul W. Hamilton, a member of the Thunderhawks on his day-off from flying, who was sitting in his car watching. The aircraft traveled for another 200 yards, then hit an unmanned weather radar tower and burst into flames. During the journey, the tail section separated from the fuselage as well as the wings, engines, and wheels. One wing, ripped off by the collision with the radar tower, landed 50 yards beyond the burning wreckage. Within minutes, Fairchild’s crash teams were on scene, fighting the fire caused by spilled jet fuel. Spokane International Airport, four miles east of the base, dispatched a crash truck and the Spokane Fire Department mobilized an entire engine company to assist in battling the blaze. Because of the toxic fumes and dangerous flare-ups, reporters and photographers were not permitted near the scene. It took firefighters more than three hours to extinguish the flames and hot-spots from the crash. Searchers found the bodies of five crewmen in the forward section of the blackened fuselage. The body of the sixth crew member was finally found late Friday night, tangled inside the cockpit wreckage. It wasn’t discovered immediately because the recovery teams were being careful to safeguard the crew compartment for the Air Force accident investigators.
Those killed were:
Cpt Christophe L. Chapman, pilot,
Lt Col Michael W. Cornett, pilot,
S/Sgt Rodney Scott Erks, refueling-boom operator,
SM/Sgt Paul W. Hamilton, refueling-boom operator,
Cpt Frank B. Johnson, pilot,
Cpt James W. Litzinger, navigator,
1st Lt Mark L. Myers, navigator.
Source: Daryl C. McClary via https://www.historylink.org/File/8871

The crew departed Fairchild AFB, WA, on a training mission. While cruising by night, the crew encountered an unexpected situation (unknown technical problems) and decided to abandon the aircraft that crashed in a canyon located in Hunts Mesa, about 13 miles northeast of Kayenta, AZ. Two crew members were killed while five others were rescued. The aircraft disintegrated on impact.
Crew:
Cpt Robert L. Keeney, pilot,
Lt Douglas J. Schwartz, copilot,
Lt Kenneth O. Portis, navigator,
Maj Eugene J. Daspit, radio navigator,
Cpt Sean M. Yeronick, EWO,
Col William L. Ivy, observer, †
Sgt David W. Felix, air gunner. †

The airplane was engaged in a cargo flight from Ogden-Hill AFB to Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, with intermediate stops in Mountain Home, Fairchild AFB (Spokane), Great Falls and Minot, carrying various equipment for the US Army. After liftoff from runway 32, while climbing, the pilot raised the landing gear when the airplane pitched down to 15°. It lost height and struck the ground 8,200 feet past the runway end, slid for about 2,600 feet before coming to rest in flames. All three crew members were injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

While descending to Fairchild AFB on a flight from Hickam Field, Hawaii, the airplane was too low and the struck the slope of Mt Shadow (4,337 feet high) located 40 miles northwest of Fairchild AFB. The airplane struck trees and disintegrated on impact, killing all nine crew members.

The crew started the descent to Fairchild AFB and the pilot-in-command completed a turn to the right to join the approach path for runway 23. At this time, weather conditions were good with a 25 miles visibility and few clouds down to 1,000 feet. Too low, the four engine aircraft struck trees and crashed in a wooded area located on the slope of Mt Kit Carson (1,320 meters high) located 30 miles northeast of Fairchild AFB. The aircraft was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 44 occupants were killed.

Just after liftoff, while climbing, the airplane went out of control and crashed in a huge explosion. Eight crew members were killed and one survived. The aircraft was destroyed.

The crew was engaged in a local training flight at Spokane AFB, consisting of visual and instruments approaches and landings. While approaching runway 23, at a distance of about three miles from the threshold, the crew cancelled his instruments approach to continue on visual mode. In the mean time, the second B-52 registered 56-0661 which was on second position must switch from visual mode to instruments approach procedures. To follow the approach procedures and as both crews were not coordinated, the approach controller instructed the first crew to gain altitude while turning to the right and instructed the second crew to reduce his altitude while turning to the left. Few seconds later, at an altitude of 900 feet, both aircraft collided and crashed. On board 56-0681, five crew members were killed while two others were seriously injured. On board 56-0661, only one crew survived, all eight others have been killed.

The crew was engaged in a local training flight at Spokane AFB, consisting of visual and instruments approaches and landings. While approaching runway 23, at a distance of about three miles from the threshold, the crew switched from visual mode to instruments. In the mean time, another B-52 registered 56-0681 which was on first position must switch from instruments to visual mode. To follow the approach procedures and as both crews were not coordinated, the approach controller instructed the first crew to gain altitude while turning to the right and instructed the second crew to reduce his altitude while turning to the left. Few seconds later, at an altitude of 900 feet, both aircraft collided and crashed. On board 56-0681, five crew members were killed while two others were seriously injured. On board 56-0661, only one crew survived, all eight others have been killed.

At approximately 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 12, 1957, U.S. Air Force B-52D Stratofortress, No. 56-0597, from the 92nd Bombardment Wing, was taking off from Runway 5 at Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) on a routine training mission. According to eyewitnesses, as the aircraft left the runway, it made an abnormally steep climb to an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet. Fire started coming from the jet engines and pieces of metal began flying off the engine cowlings and mounts. The aircraft stalled, executed an abrupt, right wingover and appeared to level off. But, at an altitude of approximately 500 feet, the plane nose dived and crashed in a stubbled wheat field one mile west of the base. Exploding jet fuel sent a large column of smoke into the sky, attracting scores of curious onlookers. A crew member was injured while eight other occupants were killed:
Crew:
Maj Ralph Romaine Alworth, †
Cpt Douglas Earl Gray, †
1st Lt James Dennis Mann, †
Col Clarence Arthur Neely, †
Cpt Thomas N. Peebles, †
Cpt Douglas Franklin Schwartz, †
Cpt Herbert Henry Spiller Jr., †
1st Lt Jack Joseph Vainisi, †
T/Sgt Gene I. Graye.
Source: http://www.historylink.org/File/9857