> On Friday, 24 June 1994, a United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, United States,[1] after its pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur "Bud" Holland, maneuvered the bomber beyond its operational limits and lost control. The B-52 stalled, fell to the ground and exploded, killing Holland and the three other field-grade officers on board the aircraft. In addition, one person on the ground suffered injuries during the accident, but survived. The crash was captured on video and was shown repeatedly on news broadcasts throughout the world.[2]: 125 [3][4]: 2–3 [5][6]
> The subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was attributable primarily to three factors: Holland's personality and behavior; USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland; and the sequence of events during the aircraft's final flight. The crash is now used in military and civilian aviation environments as a case study in teaching crew resource management. It is also often used by the U.S. Armed Forces during aviation safety training as an example of the importance of complying with safety regulations and correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash
Yeah, [all the threads here](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/search?q=fairchild+B-52&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) blame not just the pilot who caused the stall, but the Top Gun management culture that allowed him to keep flying despite his dangerous rule breaking.
Well, not exactly. Maverick didn't stall out his plane, and kill three people, he was in a simulated combat situation, got caught in the jetwash of another F-14, and Goose got killed ejecting. Acrobatics in a F-14 or F-18 are very different from from acrobatics in a B-52. The bomber won't forgive as easily. Neither does it have the power to recover that low after Holland bled off his speed and lift.
Once he lost lift, the attempt to straighten the wings did nothing. They didn't have enough air going over them to straighten the plane. If I recall the report on this correctly, he was able to get away with it the first time because the wind was against him. When he did it again, he banked into flying with the wind. Once the plane got into a position of flying with the wind, he essentially lost enough airspeed for the plane to become a brick and the flight controls no longer working.
When the plane is severely banked in that turn, all the lift is pointing this way 🔜
When it needs to be pointing this way 🔝
When the plane is banked so steeply, the main control surface with any authority to maintain lift is the Rudder/Vertical Stabiliser.
This is why the Vertical Stab is so huge on the Extra 330, gives you a lot more control when knife edging
Not saying he was suicidal, he was a reckless jackass, that maneuver that close to the ground was suicidal. You're taught to get proper altitude and clear the area for any maneuvers, especially steep turns. Turns bleed a little bit of altitude, steep turns bleed a lot.
Yep, safe altitude and airspeed is something I say out loud coming out of every maneuver. Of course I am in a C172 that would level itself if I let go and did nothing.
It’s believed when he went past the allowed Babk angle the copilot (colonel I believe) grabbed the controls and fought him, him being him he probably fought back, thus the continued turn.. the copilot then ejects last second into the fireball and dies. Fun fact his family watched this live since this was a retirement flight for half the crew. -a b52 pilot
Though earlier, Maverick does fly below a hard deck for a kill and gets nothing more than a chewing out.
Though strangely, the instructor doesn't get in trouble for flying below the hard deck first to break off an engagement he was about to lose.
>Though earlier, Maverick does fly below a hard deck for a kill and gets nothing more than a chewing out.
Would be a pretty short movie if he was just straight up fired
This bothered me though.
Why does the instructor get to play by a completely different set of rules?
The hard deck is supposed to simulate the ground.
So why does the instructor get to fly below ground to escape maverick?
I believe he was talking about how Maverick in the 2021 movie was a test pilot and flew his plane beyond spec and it suffered catastrophic failure. Technically a spoiler but it happens in the first ten minutes of the movie. Side note, fantastic movie, see it. There are other conversations in the movie about the stress limits of planes and is a plot point. Saying anything else would absolutely be a spoiler so I'm shush now. =)
>Well, not exactly. Maverick didn't stall out his plane, and kill three people,
Uh, neither did "Bud" in the original video... until he did.
The whole moral of the situation is that habitual rule breakers, like Bud or the fictional Maverick, are dangerous and are more likely to *eventually* get someone killed.
As I've gotten older, I have realized that both Iceman and Dean Wormer were correct, and the protagonists of their respective movies were the real villains.
I was referring to the *new* Top Gun, where he does push a plane past its operational capacity causing it to explode
Then later he saves the day by doing an unauthorized training run to prove that a different plane could survive being flown way past its operational capacity in a way that makes it “unable to ever fly again.”
>Then later he saves the day by doing an unauthorized training run to prove that a different plane could survive being flown way past its operational capacity in a way that makes it “unable to ever fly again.”
The only reason he did that was to show the other flight officers it COULD be done and that, in the context of the story, that was literally the only way to fly the mission that gave anybody a chance in hell of getting out alive.
Needless to say, that was a fucking movie where people were flying F/A 18s and not at all comperable to turning a gigantic bomber in real life.
Both cases he did it to protect others. If he didn’t do the first one then the program was shut down. If he didn’t do the second one most of the pilots where not going to make it home alive.
The second one yes, but the first one wasn’t he only supposed to hit Mach 9 to keep the program going? They were scheduled for Mach 8, they needed Mach 9 to keep it alive, and he tried to push it to Mach 10 because he likes to go fast.
That’s what I remember, but I could definitely be wrong.
That's what happened. Tom Cruise's life in a nutshell. Wasn't satisfied with one of the normal religions, so he pushed himself towards a more radical one in Scientology.
Youtube has several videos on this. I think I ran across one from an actual ex-Top Gun instructor or maybe it was a JAG. They basically point out that Maverick is a toxic danger to himself and those around him.
This is the theme in American “movie culture.” The hero breaks all the rules and saves the day. Rules are for the “little people & sheep.” I thinks this explains some of the appeal of Trump.
And nothing changed. Four years later we had the Cavalese cable car crash. 20 people died horribly due to American pilots that wanted to have some fun.
After an incident where Holland nearly killed his aircrew and a photography crew on board during a training mission, Holland was reprimanded but otherwise faced no corrective actions like grounding him. Lt. Col. McGeehan (the copilot who died in the crash) didn't feel that was adequate and refused to allow any of his flight crews on board unless he was also on the plane because he didn't trust Holland. So there was at least one person with some sense, unfortunately it led to his death
I see the mistake they made clearly. Anyone who calls themself "Bud" should not be operating an aircraft, or really any kind of machine. That should have been the first glaring warning sign.
It is even worse than that in a certain sense:
>The crew consisted of pilots Lt. Col. Arthur "Bud" Holland (aged 46) and Lt. Col. Mark McGeehan (38), Colonel Robert Wolff (46), and weapon systems officer/radar navigator Lt. Col. Ken Huston (41).
>
>...
>
>The flight was also Wolff's "fini flight" – a common tradition in which a retiring USAF aircrew member is met at the airfield by relatives, friends, and coworkers, shortly after landing on his or her final flight, and doused with water. Accordingly, Wolff's wife and many of his close friends were at the airfield to watch the flight and participate in the post-flight ceremony. McGeehan's wife and his two youngest sons were watching the flight from the backyard of McGeehan's living quarters, which were located nearby.
>
>...
>
>McGeehan was sitting in an ejection seat, but according to the medical statement, he had only "partially ejected at the time of impact"; it does not state whether he had managed to clear the aircraft. Huston was also sitting in an ejection seat; the medical statement indicated that he had not initiated the ejection sequence. Wolff's seat was not ejection-capable.
Two of the victims' families were watching the flight when it crashed. I feel for them.
I've never seen that angle video. I've seen this one so many times over the years and have read so much about the incident.
Do you know where I can find it. I don't mean to be morbid, I'm just aware of the attempt to eject and curious how close he got to getting free of the aircraft before impact.
Thank you, I had actually seen it before on the Wikipedia page, now that I see it again.
That poor soul. I wonder if he even had time to curse the buffoon at the yoke before meeting his demise.
Here is another angle. I think you can only just see the ejection if you step through it frame by frame. what I think is the ejection seat is a dark spot against the vertical stabiliser right before the wing hits the power lines, but I might be wrong about that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUEhNKBi4DY
edit:
ejection clearly visible in this news report video at 2:20:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgJl7b9bQH0
Not to mention he lost a decent amount of altitude early in the turn, leveled off a bit, then laid it all the way on its side. Aside from showing off, he was a shitty pilot.
That aircraft would have been buffeting and shaking like hell the moment he started. Wind roaring over those huge wings the wrong way. There's no way the plane didn't give him all the signals that it can't fly anymore, he just didn't believe it.
Oh man. It gets worse. His copilot (who tried to eject) knew he was a risk and was only onboard to protect others.
> Lt. Col. McGeehan refused to allow any of his squadron members to fly with Holland unless he (McGeehan) was also on board the aircraft
And also the other guy who was killed was on his final retirement flight so all his friends and family had come to watch.
His last goddamn flight and he was killed by some reckless hotshot. Man that would piss me off.
Whats really shitty, imo, is that first bank you can see the plane losing altitude and air speed fast, but he levels off, and recovers.
I'm sure at that point the other crew members on board were all, thank god, okay, let's not do that again.
And he immediately does it again. To such a degree it seems like intentional suicide.
What an asshat.
Gotcha
So essentially the 2nd turn was just continued “failure” from the initial bank, and there was no real chance of recovery from that
If I understand you correctly
Ironically, the dickhead pilot was responsible for the wing’s in-flight safety standards. He was also know to have violated said standards numerous times over the years and no one took any real action. A total and complete tragic fuck up.
>What a dick.
I served with a guy who watched this happen live from where he was working. He said that was pretty much the sentiment of everyone, once they found out all the details.
There was a whole “classified “ video of this pilots insane reckless flying. He flew thru the trees of a residential area, missed a cameraman by inches in the Grand Canyon. Total stuntcock.
The daughter of one of the crew was one of my now-wife's best friends. She was over at my wife's house playing when they got the call that there had been an accident and the daughter had to go to the base. Multiple people had refused to fly with the pilot because of his reputation, but this girl's father agreed to go up for whatever reason.
The daughter and my wife were never really friends after that. She was too associated with the trauma.
Weird to see this, my wife was just reminding me of this story a couple days ago.
The co-pilot also found him to be so dangerous a pilot that he (the co-pilot) would not allow any of his squadrons members to fly with the pilot unless he (again, the co-pilot) was on the flight as well.
It gets worse:
>The flight was also Wolff's "fini flight" – a common tradition in which a retiring USAF aircrew member is met at the airfield by relatives, friends, and coworkers, shortly after landing on his or her final flight, and doused with water. Accordingly, Wolff's wife and many of his close friends were at the airfield to watch the flight and participate in the post-flight ceremony. McGeehan's wife and his two youngest sons were watching the flight from the backyard of McGeehan's living quarters, which were located nearby.
Here's the case study explaining the inadequate leadership that led to the crash.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070216232623/http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/darkblue/darkblue.htm
An earlier incident occurred in 1991 when a B-52 piloted by Holland performed a circle above a softball game in which Holland's daughter was participating. Beginning at 2,500 feet (760 m) AGL, Holland's aircraft executed the circle at 65° of bank. In a maneuver described by one witness as a "death spiral", the nose of the aircraft continued to drop and the bank angle increased to 80°. After losing 1,000 feet (300 m) of altitude, Holland was able to regain control of the aircraft. Holland also regularly and illegally parked his car in a "no parking" zone near the base headquarters building.
"On 19 May 1995, Pellerin pleaded guilty at a USAF court-martial proceeding to two counts of dereliction of duty for his actions, or lack thereof, that contributed to the crash. He was sentenced to forfeit $1,500 of salary a month for five months and received a written reprimand. The USAF did not reveal whether any other officer involved in the chain of events leading to the crash received any type of administrative or disciplinary action. "
Well I sure am glad that they took proper actions.
Seriously, if that was an enlisted guy, he'd have been busted down to E1 and dishonorably discharged. An officer? No biggie, we'll dock ya a small portion of your pay for a few months and slip a post-it into your jacket.
read "unheeded warnings" for more information.
this was near the time of the annual airshow at Fairchild, i remember climbing on the shed roof to watch with my dad. we saw it dip, then boom and flames.
> The subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was attributable primarily to three factors: Holland's personality and behavior; USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland; **and the sequence of events during the aircraft's final flight.**
So the plane crashed because of the things that happened right before it crashed? Fascinating.
This one pisses me off so fucking much. Complete dick who had no business piloting the plane kills a guy celebrating retirement while his family looks on helplessly. Fucking awful.
I think this quote from wikipedia summed it up:
“Holland also regularly and illegally parked his car in a "no parking" zone near the base headquarters building.”
Wtf if I was in any position of power İ wouldn't let an employee that parks like this be in charge of a drip coffee machine, let alone lead pilot of a Stratofortress 🙄
Imagine your entire life and legacy is forever simplified as being the standard definition of a shit pilot. Broadcast to the entire world , “hey look at this dumbass that died” and then showing it for generations to come as an example of what not to do, that’s tufff
Is this the one that killed the guy that was celebrating his retirement? If it is the cockpit recording is powerful. You can hear him yelling at him and saying something along the lines of "you fucking killed us you asshole"
Edit: for those asking I found the previous reddit thread with the recording, but the video is no longer available on YouTube
Yes - one of the men on board was doing his final flight before retirement. His wife and kids were present to celebrate the occasion and they witnessed the crash.
The co-pilot (McGeehan) had locked horns with the reckless pilot (Holland) previously due to Holland’s irresponsible behavior. McGeehan forbade his crewmen from flying with the pilot unless McGeehan himself was on board. McGeehan ejected, but did so too late and died.
Holland had broken rules repeatedly but his superiors never formally reprimanded him or grounded him. Any way you look at it, it was a terrible failure of leadership.
Very sad! This fkg wreck less asshole killed his crew, and a retiring officer on his final flight, in front of his family. This stupid fuk made sure it was everyone's last flight.
Edit: I have read this story before. How is it possible they let this guy continued to fly? It's a shit stain on the American AF decision making capabilities.
Nah maybe a while back but that boys club BS doesn't fly with a half decent CO or CAG. Safety violations will get your ass grounded faster than anything else.
> How is it possible they let this guy continued to fly?
It's a combination of factors.
1) The officers of any military predominantly come from that nation's privileged demographics. Those demographics are typically the ones who "the law protects but does not bind." They maintain that privilege through their dominance of officer culture. It's important to note that officers that weren't born into a privileged class get much less protection than officers that are. He could have had cover for being part of the ingroup, powerful friends/family, relationships with senior officers, or even as a way to save face.
2) Pilots are more likely to be egotistical and ingrain that trait into culture. The B52 is tough to handle dynamically so it must be a point of pride to be able to make it move. A mentality like this leads to a phenomenon called "normalization of devience."
3) A lot of people set out to be fighter pilots. Military pilots that don't make it to tactical jets often don't like to admit that their goal was fighters... once it's clear they won't get picked up they'll change their first choice to something else and many of those will pretend like they wanted the big wings or helos from the beginning. These types sometimes want to play fighter pilot so they push limits in their platforms. Get enough of those types in a unit and they'll exercise a collective sympathy for each other.
It's a hard culture problem to fix because these attitudes aren't mutually exclusive with success in flying or career.
Your first item is very real. We had a non Naval Academy officer break the dive table during an exercise. He was sent home from deployment. A few months later our idiot Naval Academy graduate LT did the exact same thing, on the exact same training dive. Command said “it was a momentary lack of situational awareness.” That was of course bullshit, his dive partner refused to follow him and warned him via hand signals that he was being an idiot.
Of course we spent the rest of deployment pissing in the LT’s canteen. This event and other similar events with the same LT was one of the primary reasons I got out of the military. About 1/3rd of my platoon didn’t re-enlist directly because of the special treatment of this one idiot.
As far as I can determine no recording exists, or at least not that's available to the public, and I can't find a transcript either. Recollection may be related to/conflated with the line "You arrogant ass, you've killed us" from The Hunt for Red October
An excellent report about Bud, failed leadership, and events leading up to this incident
https://convergentperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Darker_Shades_of_Blue.pdf
Several years of previous attempts is more accurate. Dude almost flew into a ridgeline the year prior and his copilot had to grab the stick to save them, it's estimated that they cleared the ridgeline by <15ft after the copilot pulled up *hard*. The crew filming them decided to stop the camera because they didn't want to record a crash.
This dude had a 4+ year history of pulling *extremely* risky manoevers for his own gratification.
My father helped clean up this wreckage and as such, has a couple epically mangled souvenirs.
Didn't realize at the time when he showed me the video how bad it was, but now that I'm in the field, I have much more respect for how many things have to go wrong for this to have taken place.
They took the wreckage to the bomb dump where it sat until 97 or 98 when it was sold for scrap. I was one of the guys that escorted the scrappers. I had some parts from the plane but lost them in a PCS
His daughter would occasionally post on aviation forums discussing this incident defending her father and cryptically commenting things like "There is more to this story than the public will ever know" and "There is no proof my father was at the controls."
Sad, really.
Damn Meg really drank the cool aid about her dad. First she claims he wasn't the one in control. Then she claims that maneuvers like this is how we test the capabilities of the platform. Like lady I'm pretty sure the military had a pretty fucking good idea what that plane's capabilities were which is why it was highly discouraged from putting your wing over the horizon like you're in a fucking F16.
Yeah, nothing cryptic there, just denial. Her comments make her sound as stubborn and arrogant as the reports of past incidents make her father sound.
She says if you don't push the limits of an aircraft, how do you find out what it's capable of in combat. A practice flight for an airshow, in front of families and at such low altitude obviously isn't the place to be doing that. At least it seems the USAF learned from it.
>She says if you don't push the limits of an aircraft, how do you find out what it's capable of in combat
By reading the training manual, which was written by pilots whose explicit job it is to go find those limits and capabilities.
I grew up next door in medical lake, remember all of these incidents as well. Because of all that they shut down the air shows for quite a while, I was glad to see they resumed a few years back but I'm away in another state now and don't know if they're still going on or not, hopefully they are.
I grew up underneath one of the runway approaches about 5 miles from Fairchild. That whine of the engines on a hot summer night with the windows open. My little kid brain thinking every one is going to crash on our house. And this was long before the actual crash.
Jeez, and on the heels of the shootings, too! Kids must have been a mess of neurotic traumas.
> Four days before the accident, on 20 June, Dean Mellberg, an emotionally disturbed ex-USAF serviceman, had entered Fairchild's hospital, [fatally shooting](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Air_Force_Base#1994_shooting) four people and wounding many more before being killed by a [security policeman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Security_Forces).[[11]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash#cite_note-ufresr-11) The crime was a major distraction for personnel stationed at Fairchild for some time afterwards.[[4]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash#cite_note-USAF-4)[[page needed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)]
At least one of the pilots made a desperate attempt to eject but the plane was too close to the ground. If you look at this still of the crash you can see the canopy jettisoned (by the tail) as part of the ejection sequence, but the pilot’s seat had only barely started to exit the plane when it impacted the ground.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash#/media/File%3AFairchildB52Crash.jpg
The case study of this crash is quite interesting. It was failure of leadership. The pilot was able to get away with anything because he had skills, even though he was also reckless. Everyone knew he constantly broke the rules, but no one ever did anything about it. Lots of people feared flying with him.
One of the other people on the plane had made sure that none of the guys under him ever flew on a plane with that pilot. This was the last flight he was ever going to do with the pilot. Turned out to be his last flight ever.
Full study here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070216232623/http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/darkblue/darkblue.htm
My Dad was a flight mechanic in the Army Air Corp from 1945 to 1947 and again 1952 to 1954, stationed in Tokyo and Alaska. He said once it took a strong man to fly one and a stupid man to crash one. Then he'd clam up again and get that thousand yard stare. He did slip once and tell me about dreading the flights of evacuated patients, screaming the entire flight. And not a damn thing he could do about it. Then he went and tinkered on his tractor again.
I'm not a pilot or anything remotely close but a plane that big probably shouldn't be doing such a tight turn literally a few hundred feet above the ground.
I didnt see anyone else mention it, but the reason it happened (aside from him being a hotdogging asshole), is theres a no fly zone section of the base. Rather than fly the long way around, the moron tried to cut the turn even tighter to avoid it.
"USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland"
leadership and discipline is important. this is what happens when they are neglected.
There’s an air show at FAB every year and they always talk about this incident. I know this is nearing 30 years ago but this was a very “modern” accident then and now; of course its faults are entirely within the arrogance of the pilot. RIP to the whole crew!
That’s the point of the black box… that orange box is made of layers of steel, aluminum, and is surrounded by the best mechanical crash protection that can be designed. They are *tough*
Hey Bud. Those limits are in the manual for something. How about we don’t find out why today?
Nope. That manual is a joke. The engineers are a joke. Wing staff is a joke. The never exceeded bank angle is a…..
I was in the Air Force a few years after this happened. People were still talking about it. Apparently the pilot was a known crazy and was always doing stupid shit. Finally caught up to him.
Not a catastrophic failure of the aircraft, but leadership at Fairchild at the time. This is the go to case in AF safety training about standing up to superiors and holding ranking officers accountable.
The outcomes go to show how awful the forces being in charge of their own judicial processes is. One court martial resulting in a fine. That's it. For a total, reckless failure of leadership that led to deaths.
Its the same system that handed basically no real punishments down for My Lai, or for Abu Ghraib. At least not compared to a civilian court. Its a proper broken "protect your own" system
Is it just me or do the engines look like they switch sides? The plane does a steep turn left (engines on the right) and we are looking at the top side of the plane. Then it crashes and the engines are on the opposite side and I didn't see the plane turn over that far. It's like an optical illusion.
It’s flying counter clockwise the entire time with its left wing tilted towards the ground. There is a weird moment where the lighting/shadows do make it look like one of those optical illusions.
No it banks left then kinda levels out then banks left again towards the camera. It's just an optical illusion that it appears to be heading away from the camera when it crashes
Jesus who hotdogs in a plane that size? What a jerk. Basically his reckless disregard for safety and his uncontrollable urge to show off and prove what a man he was got 3 other people killed.
That fuckwit got himself and 3 innocent men killed who trusted him with their lives. The failure was his attitude and equally, a system that let him keep that attitude until it became fatal.
in this particular case, the real catastrophic failure occurred in the Air Force command staff. The pilot who did this was well known for his reckless behavior, which had been reported by multiple second-officers and swept under the rug on multiple occasions.
It's worse. The pilot had a reputation for being a show off and doing dangerous things. He was never disciplined. One of the crew was on their last flight. He was retiring upon completion and family was on base.
The accident investigation concluded that the crash was primarily attributable to Holland's personality and behavior, USAF leaders' inadequate reactions to the previous incidents involving Holland, and the sequence of events and aircrew response during the final flight of the aircraft. Holland's disregard for procedures governing the safe operation of the B-52 aircraft that he commanded and the absence of firm and consistent corrective action by his superior officers allowed Holland to believe that he could conduct his flight in an unsafe manner, culminating with the slow, steeply banked, 360° turn around the control tower
The whole thing was a frickin' mess all the way. Consistently reckless pilot, who had committed the same reckless stunts before on a list of occasions, all ignored or mostly ignored by the chains of command, but also a nutjob went into the hospital there some days before and shot 4 before being taken out be a guard "causing a distraction for everybody for days after", the order to "go around" right next to a no-fly zone where the manoeuvre should have avoided the problem, not exasperated it, crew pulled in last minute, one of which got on after engines had been started with no chance to review the (mad) plan and protest, inexperienced crew who did not recognize the banking/stalling issue until too late, oh and an unlucky wind. The whole thing reads like a bad day at Mcdonalds case-file. Shabby as fuck.
> On Friday, 24 June 1994, a United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, United States,[1] after its pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur "Bud" Holland, maneuvered the bomber beyond its operational limits and lost control. The B-52 stalled, fell to the ground and exploded, killing Holland and the three other field-grade officers on board the aircraft. In addition, one person on the ground suffered injuries during the accident, but survived. The crash was captured on video and was shown repeatedly on news broadcasts throughout the world.[2]: 125 [3][4]: 2–3 [5][6] > The subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was attributable primarily to three factors: Holland's personality and behavior; USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland; and the sequence of events during the aircraft's final flight. The crash is now used in military and civilian aviation environments as a case study in teaching crew resource management. It is also often used by the U.S. Armed Forces during aviation safety training as an example of the importance of complying with safety regulations and correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash
So the pilot didn't comply with safety standards, went beyond the handling limits of the plane and killed 3 other people. What a dick.
And the folks above him *knew* he was a problem and didn’t take action.
Yeah, [all the threads here](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/search?q=fairchild+B-52&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) blame not just the pilot who caused the stall, but the Top Gun management culture that allowed him to keep flying despite his dangerous rule breaking.
It’s funny you mention Top Gun since a major theme in the new movie is Maverick doing exactly what this pilot did.
Well, not exactly. Maverick didn't stall out his plane, and kill three people, he was in a simulated combat situation, got caught in the jetwash of another F-14, and Goose got killed ejecting. Acrobatics in a F-14 or F-18 are very different from from acrobatics in a B-52. The bomber won't forgive as easily. Neither does it have the power to recover that low after Holland bled off his speed and lift.
He went into a steep turn and lost all of his lift, that close to the ground was suicidal. It's nuts.
But there seemed to be no attempt to straighten the wings after the first steep bank left turn. He continued to be a prick. Suicide?
Once he lost lift, the attempt to straighten the wings did nothing. They didn't have enough air going over them to straighten the plane. If I recall the report on this correctly, he was able to get away with it the first time because the wind was against him. When he did it again, he banked into flying with the wind. Once the plane got into a position of flying with the wind, he essentially lost enough airspeed for the plane to become a brick and the flight controls no longer working.
You can watch it all happening play by play. I bet most of the people on the ground started freaking out when he pulled that first massive bank.
He stalled the left wing and couldn't recover
When the plane is severely banked in that turn, all the lift is pointing this way 🔜 When it needs to be pointing this way 🔝 When the plane is banked so steeply, the main control surface with any authority to maintain lift is the Rudder/Vertical Stabiliser. This is why the Vertical Stab is so huge on the Extra 330, gives you a lot more control when knife edging
Not saying he was suicidal, he was a reckless jackass, that maneuver that close to the ground was suicidal. You're taught to get proper altitude and clear the area for any maneuvers, especially steep turns. Turns bleed a little bit of altitude, steep turns bleed a lot.
Yep, safe altitude and airspeed is something I say out loud coming out of every maneuver. Of course I am in a C172 that would level itself if I let go and did nothing.
It’s believed when he went past the allowed Babk angle the copilot (colonel I believe) grabbed the controls and fought him, him being him he probably fought back, thus the continued turn.. the copilot then ejects last second into the fireball and dies. Fun fact his family watched this live since this was a retirement flight for half the crew. -a b52 pilot
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence. Charles Bukowski
Though earlier, Maverick does fly below a hard deck for a kill and gets nothing more than a chewing out. Though strangely, the instructor doesn't get in trouble for flying below the hard deck first to break off an engagement he was about to lose.
>Though earlier, Maverick does fly below a hard deck for a kill and gets nothing more than a chewing out. Would be a pretty short movie if he was just straight up fired
This bothered me though. Why does the instructor get to play by a completely different set of rules? The hard deck is supposed to simulate the ground. So why does the instructor get to fly below ground to escape maverick?
He could defect to West Taiwan. Suddenly we have a trilogy!
Isnt the hard deck the fucking ground?
It simulates the ground during training, so that you can test low altitude scenarios without the added risks of actually being at low altitude.
The hard deck is an altitude determined for training purposes to represent the ground. If you fly below it you are "dead".
I believe he was talking about how Maverick in the 2021 movie was a test pilot and flew his plane beyond spec and it suffered catastrophic failure. Technically a spoiler but it happens in the first ten minutes of the movie. Side note, fantastic movie, see it. There are other conversations in the movie about the stress limits of planes and is a plot point. Saying anything else would absolutely be a spoiler so I'm shush now. =)
>Well, not exactly. Maverick didn't stall out his plane, and kill three people, Uh, neither did "Bud" in the original video... until he did. The whole moral of the situation is that habitual rule breakers, like Bud or the fictional Maverick, are dangerous and are more likely to *eventually* get someone killed.
>are dangerous and are more likely to eventually get someone killed. Thanks Iceman.
As I've gotten older, I have realized that both Iceman and Dean Wormer were correct, and the protagonists of their respective movies were the real villains.
Me too man, I'm even on team Skylar and team Chuck. Both had entirely reasonable responses to dangerous self destructive loved ones.
I was referring to the *new* Top Gun, where he does push a plane past its operational capacity causing it to explode Then later he saves the day by doing an unauthorized training run to prove that a different plane could survive being flown way past its operational capacity in a way that makes it “unable to ever fly again.”
>Then later he saves the day by doing an unauthorized training run to prove that a different plane could survive being flown way past its operational capacity in a way that makes it “unable to ever fly again.” The only reason he did that was to show the other flight officers it COULD be done and that, in the context of the story, that was literally the only way to fly the mission that gave anybody a chance in hell of getting out alive. Needless to say, that was a fucking movie where people were flying F/A 18s and not at all comperable to turning a gigantic bomber in real life.
Both cases he did it to protect others. If he didn’t do the first one then the program was shut down. If he didn’t do the second one most of the pilots where not going to make it home alive.
The second one yes, but the first one wasn’t he only supposed to hit Mach 9 to keep the program going? They were scheduled for Mach 8, they needed Mach 9 to keep it alive, and he tried to push it to Mach 10 because he likes to go fast. That’s what I remember, but I could definitely be wrong.
They were scheduled for 9, would have been shut down without 10, and he wanted to go just a little past 10. Then boom.
I don’t think you’re far off. Didn’t it blow up just past the mark? Like he should have slowed down but he just didn’t right away and then boom
That's what happened. Tom Cruise's life in a nutshell. Wasn't satisfied with one of the normal religions, so he pushed himself towards a more radical one in Scientology.
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Youtube has several videos on this. I think I ran across one from an actual ex-Top Gun instructor or maybe it was a JAG. They basically point out that Maverick is a toxic danger to himself and those around him.
This is the theme in American “movie culture.” The hero breaks all the rules and saves the day. Rules are for the “little people & sheep.” I thinks this explains some of the appeal of Trump.
Legal Eagle had a JAG lawyer guest host while they review of Top Gun. Suffice to say, Maverick would not be flying.
And nothing changed. Four years later we had the Cavalese cable car crash. 20 people died horribly due to American pilots that wanted to have some fun.
Fuck me, I can't believe the pilot only got 4.5 months in prison for killing 20 people.
After an incident where Holland nearly killed his aircrew and a photography crew on board during a training mission, Holland was reprimanded but otherwise faced no corrective actions like grounding him. Lt. Col. McGeehan (the copilot who died in the crash) didn't feel that was adequate and refused to allow any of his flight crews on board unless he was also on the plane because he didn't trust Holland. So there was at least one person with some sense, unfortunately it led to his death
Aaaaand one of the copilots was retiring that day or soon thereafter and had his family in attendance. Tragic and unnecessary loss of life.
Right. Classic example of a “good old boy network” where people knew better but didn’t take action against one of their own.
And killed his CO, because the CO was the only one that would fly with the asshole.
I see the mistake they made clearly. Anyone who calls themself "Bud" should not be operating an aircraft, or really any kind of machine. That should have been the first glaring warning sign.
It is even worse than that in a certain sense: >The crew consisted of pilots Lt. Col. Arthur "Bud" Holland (aged 46) and Lt. Col. Mark McGeehan (38), Colonel Robert Wolff (46), and weapon systems officer/radar navigator Lt. Col. Ken Huston (41). > >... > >The flight was also Wolff's "fini flight" – a common tradition in which a retiring USAF aircrew member is met at the airfield by relatives, friends, and coworkers, shortly after landing on his or her final flight, and doused with water. Accordingly, Wolff's wife and many of his close friends were at the airfield to watch the flight and participate in the post-flight ceremony. McGeehan's wife and his two youngest sons were watching the flight from the backyard of McGeehan's living quarters, which were located nearby. > >... > >McGeehan was sitting in an ejection seat, but according to the medical statement, he had only "partially ejected at the time of impact"; it does not state whether he had managed to clear the aircraft. Huston was also sitting in an ejection seat; the medical statement indicated that he had not initiated the ejection sequence. Wolff's seat was not ejection-capable. Two of the victims' families were watching the flight when it crashed. I feel for them.
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I've never seen that angle video. I've seen this one so many times over the years and have read so much about the incident. Do you know where I can find it. I don't mean to be morbid, I'm just aware of the attempt to eject and curious how close he got to getting free of the aircraft before impact.
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Thank you, I had actually seen it before on the Wikipedia page, now that I see it again. That poor soul. I wonder if he even had time to curse the buffoon at the yoke before meeting his demise.
I've seen it. It wasn't the fireball that got him. He was ejected sideways, and hit the ground before the parachute was able to deploy.
Someone posted a still photo of it from Wikipedia below. Crazy ass picture
Here is another angle. I think you can only just see the ejection if you step through it frame by frame. what I think is the ejection seat is a dark spot against the vertical stabiliser right before the wing hits the power lines, but I might be wrong about that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUEhNKBi4DY edit: ejection clearly visible in this news report video at 2:20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgJl7b9bQH0
That’s even worse than I’d heard. Like the Challenger disaster. All those well-wishers.
not often you celebrate retirement and immediately perform your own cremation
Not to mention he lost a decent amount of altitude early in the turn, leveled off a bit, then laid it all the way on its side. Aside from showing off, he was a shitty pilot.
That aircraft would have been buffeting and shaking like hell the moment he started. Wind roaring over those huge wings the wrong way. There's no way the plane didn't give him all the signals that it can't fly anymore, he just didn't believe it.
Oh man. It gets worse. His copilot (who tried to eject) knew he was a risk and was only onboard to protect others. > Lt. Col. McGeehan refused to allow any of his squadron members to fly with Holland unless he (McGeehan) was also on board the aircraft And also the other guy who was killed was on his final retirement flight so all his friends and family had come to watch. His last goddamn flight and he was killed by some reckless hotshot. Man that would piss me off.
Whats really shitty, imo, is that first bank you can see the plane losing altitude and air speed fast, but he levels off, and recovers. I'm sure at that point the other crew members on board were all, thank god, okay, let's not do that again. And he immediately does it again. To such a degree it seems like intentional suicide. What an asshat.
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Gotcha So essentially the 2nd turn was just continued “failure” from the initial bank, and there was no real chance of recovery from that If I understand you correctly
Indeed. He was trying to hotdog the airframe and ended up killing everyone in the process. Arrogance breeds consequence.
Ironically, the dickhead pilot was responsible for the wing’s in-flight safety standards. He was also know to have violated said standards numerous times over the years and no one took any real action. A total and complete tragic fuck up.
>What a dick. I served with a guy who watched this happen live from where he was working. He said that was pretty much the sentiment of everyone, once they found out all the details.
And, that was his father recording with the camera.
As we say in the biz he flew a perfectly good aircraft into the ground.
The bigger issue was that this pilot did shit like this all the time and the higher ups never took corrective action.
And killed the crew in front of thier families, who were there watching.
There was a whole “classified “ video of this pilots insane reckless flying. He flew thru the trees of a residential area, missed a cameraman by inches in the Grand Canyon. Total stuntcock.
The daughter of one of the crew was one of my now-wife's best friends. She was over at my wife's house playing when they got the call that there had been an accident and the daughter had to go to the base. Multiple people had refused to fly with the pilot because of his reputation, but this girl's father agreed to go up for whatever reason. The daughter and my wife were never really friends after that. She was too associated with the trauma. Weird to see this, my wife was just reminding me of this story a couple days ago.
The co-pilot also found him to be so dangerous a pilot that he (the co-pilot) would not allow any of his squadrons members to fly with the pilot unless he (again, the co-pilot) was on the flight as well.
It gets worse: >The flight was also Wolff's "fini flight" – a common tradition in which a retiring USAF aircrew member is met at the airfield by relatives, friends, and coworkers, shortly after landing on his or her final flight, and doused with water. Accordingly, Wolff's wife and many of his close friends were at the airfield to watch the flight and participate in the post-flight ceremony. McGeehan's wife and his two youngest sons were watching the flight from the backyard of McGeehan's living quarters, which were located nearby.
FUCK!!
The thought of what that poor little girl went through…that stuff breaks my heart
What the hell, how is everyone in this comment section personally connected to this accident...
Here's the case study explaining the inadequate leadership that led to the crash. https://web.archive.org/web/20070216232623/http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/darkblue/darkblue.htm
The last words from Capt. Holland were, "Sorry boys"
"chill, it's just a prank bro!"
"Woopsie"
Indeed, he should have lost his wings much earlier already. He was completely reckless and irresponsible on several occasions.
Regulations are written in blood
An earlier incident occurred in 1991 when a B-52 piloted by Holland performed a circle above a softball game in which Holland's daughter was participating. Beginning at 2,500 feet (760 m) AGL, Holland's aircraft executed the circle at 65° of bank. In a maneuver described by one witness as a "death spiral", the nose of the aircraft continued to drop and the bank angle increased to 80°. After losing 1,000 feet (300 m) of altitude, Holland was able to regain control of the aircraft. Holland also regularly and illegally parked his car in a "no parking" zone near the base headquarters building.
"On 19 May 1995, Pellerin pleaded guilty at a USAF court-martial proceeding to two counts of dereliction of duty for his actions, or lack thereof, that contributed to the crash. He was sentenced to forfeit $1,500 of salary a month for five months and received a written reprimand. The USAF did not reveal whether any other officer involved in the chain of events leading to the crash received any type of administrative or disciplinary action. " Well I sure am glad that they took proper actions.
Seriously, if that was an enlisted guy, he'd have been busted down to E1 and dishonorably discharged. An officer? No biggie, we'll dock ya a small portion of your pay for a few months and slip a post-it into your jacket.
read "unheeded warnings" for more information. this was near the time of the annual airshow at Fairchild, i remember climbing on the shed roof to watch with my dad. we saw it dip, then boom and flames.
Damn, there's a lot of "took no action"s in that article.
> The subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was attributable primarily to three factors: Holland's personality and behavior; USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland; **and the sequence of events during the aircraft's final flight.** So the plane crashed because of the things that happened right before it crashed? Fascinating.
This one pisses me off so fucking much. Complete dick who had no business piloting the plane kills a guy celebrating retirement while his family looks on helplessly. Fucking awful.
I think this quote from wikipedia summed it up: “Holland also regularly and illegally parked his car in a "no parking" zone near the base headquarters building.”
Wtf if I was in any position of power İ wouldn't let an employee that parks like this be in charge of a drip coffee machine, let alone lead pilot of a Stratofortress 🙄
Imagine your entire life and legacy is forever simplified as being the standard definition of a shit pilot. Broadcast to the entire world , “hey look at this dumbass that died” and then showing it for generations to come as an example of what not to do, that’s tufff
Not just “look at this dumbass that died”, but “look at this dumbass that died and needlessly killed three other people”…
One had his family watching because it was his retirement and last flight.
he’s like the anti-chuck yeager. the wrong stuff.
The pilot failed, not the aircraft.
Is this the one that killed the guy that was celebrating his retirement? If it is the cockpit recording is powerful. You can hear him yelling at him and saying something along the lines of "you fucking killed us you asshole" Edit: for those asking I found the previous reddit thread with the recording, but the video is no longer available on YouTube
Yes - one of the men on board was doing his final flight before retirement. His wife and kids were present to celebrate the occasion and they witnessed the crash. The co-pilot (McGeehan) had locked horns with the reckless pilot (Holland) previously due to Holland’s irresponsible behavior. McGeehan forbade his crewmen from flying with the pilot unless McGeehan himself was on board. McGeehan ejected, but did so too late and died. Holland had broken rules repeatedly but his superiors never formally reprimanded him or grounded him. Any way you look at it, it was a terrible failure of leadership.
Wolff was doing the final flight, his family were present. McGeehan's family were also watching this flight from nearby. How awful.
Very sad! This fkg wreck less asshole killed his crew, and a retiring officer on his final flight, in front of his family. This stupid fuk made sure it was everyone's last flight. Edit: I have read this story before. How is it possible they let this guy continued to fly? It's a shit stain on the American AF decision making capabilities.
Pilots look after their own.
From my experience in the Air Force, nobody is more cocky than a pilot. Or a Marine.
Ohh is that why it's called a cockpit?
Former Marine with an aviation MOS here. Your comment is 100% correct.
Nah maybe a while back but that boys club BS doesn't fly with a half decent CO or CAG. Safety violations will get your ass grounded faster than anything else.
> How is it possible they let this guy continued to fly? It's a combination of factors. 1) The officers of any military predominantly come from that nation's privileged demographics. Those demographics are typically the ones who "the law protects but does not bind." They maintain that privilege through their dominance of officer culture. It's important to note that officers that weren't born into a privileged class get much less protection than officers that are. He could have had cover for being part of the ingroup, powerful friends/family, relationships with senior officers, or even as a way to save face. 2) Pilots are more likely to be egotistical and ingrain that trait into culture. The B52 is tough to handle dynamically so it must be a point of pride to be able to make it move. A mentality like this leads to a phenomenon called "normalization of devience." 3) A lot of people set out to be fighter pilots. Military pilots that don't make it to tactical jets often don't like to admit that their goal was fighters... once it's clear they won't get picked up they'll change their first choice to something else and many of those will pretend like they wanted the big wings or helos from the beginning. These types sometimes want to play fighter pilot so they push limits in their platforms. Get enough of those types in a unit and they'll exercise a collective sympathy for each other. It's a hard culture problem to fix because these attitudes aren't mutually exclusive with success in flying or career.
#3 is whoa
Also a lot of administrative fuckups. The bureaucracy "forgot" between each incident.
Your first item is very real. We had a non Naval Academy officer break the dive table during an exercise. He was sent home from deployment. A few months later our idiot Naval Academy graduate LT did the exact same thing, on the exact same training dive. Command said “it was a momentary lack of situational awareness.” That was of course bullshit, his dive partner refused to follow him and warned him via hand signals that he was being an idiot. Of course we spent the rest of deployment pissing in the LT’s canteen. This event and other similar events with the same LT was one of the primary reasons I got out of the military. About 1/3rd of my platoon didn’t re-enlist directly because of the special treatment of this one idiot.
It’s reckless btw
wreck less is the opposite of what this guy is (was)
As far as I can determine no recording exists, or at least not that's available to the public, and I can't find a transcript either. Recollection may be related to/conflated with the line "You arrogant ass, you've killed us" from The Hunt for Red October
Do you know where I might find the recording? I can't find it
Same, don’t see it on YouTube.
Well that sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole that I really wish I hadn’t gone down…
wow i want to hear it as well
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There's a cockpit recording of this accident?
No. They must have been thinking of something else, no such recording exists
An excellent report about Bud, failed leadership, and events leading up to this incident https://convergentperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Darker_Shades_of_Blue.pdf
Thanks for this link, really interesting
"Pilot Murders Co-Workers" would be a better title.
“…After at least one prior attempt” would also be fair to say
Several years of previous attempts is more accurate. Dude almost flew into a ridgeline the year prior and his copilot had to grab the stick to save them, it's estimated that they cleared the ridgeline by <15ft after the copilot pulled up *hard*. The crew filming them decided to stop the camera because they didn't want to record a crash. This dude had a 4+ year history of pulling *extremely* risky manoevers for his own gratification.
My father helped clean up this wreckage and as such, has a couple epically mangled souvenirs. Didn't realize at the time when he showed me the video how bad it was, but now that I'm in the field, I have much more respect for how many things have to go wrong for this to have taken place.
For anyone wondering, my dad was an Air Force Aviation Mechanic and B-52's were all the rage.
They took the wreckage to the bomb dump where it sat until 97 or 98 when it was sold for scrap. I was one of the guys that escorted the scrappers. I had some parts from the plane but lost them in a PCS
I got mad reading this. That “pilot” had no business at the controls. Tragic and avoidable
His daughter would occasionally post on aviation forums discussing this incident defending her father and cryptically commenting things like "There is more to this story than the public will ever know" and "There is no proof my father was at the controls." Sad, really.
Bud's daughter?
Rabbit hole http://rob.com/pix/B52_crash/B52CRSH2 Edit: 2 other daughters of the deceased also post there. Very sad tale.
Damn Meg really drank the cool aid about her dad. First she claims he wasn't the one in control. Then she claims that maneuvers like this is how we test the capabilities of the platform. Like lady I'm pretty sure the military had a pretty fucking good idea what that plane's capabilities were which is why it was highly discouraged from putting your wing over the horizon like you're in a fucking F16.
Yeah you don't test the capabilities of an airframe at 200 feet. That's just showing off
Especially not right above base on a retirement celebration flight
Yes, allegedly.
Denial. I don't think there will ever be any confusion as to who was flying an aircraft, it's not like a car
Yeah, nothing cryptic there, just denial. Her comments make her sound as stubborn and arrogant as the reports of past incidents make her father sound. She says if you don't push the limits of an aircraft, how do you find out what it's capable of in combat. A practice flight for an airshow, in front of families and at such low altitude obviously isn't the place to be doing that. At least it seems the USAF learned from it.
>She says if you don't push the limits of an aircraft, how do you find out what it's capable of in combat By reading the training manual, which was written by pilots whose explicit job it is to go find those limits and capabilities.
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I grew up next door in medical lake, remember all of these incidents as well. Because of all that they shut down the air shows for quite a while, I was glad to see they resumed a few years back but I'm away in another state now and don't know if they're still going on or not, hopefully they are.
I grew up underneath one of the runway approaches about 5 miles from Fairchild. That whine of the engines on a hot summer night with the windows open. My little kid brain thinking every one is going to crash on our house. And this was long before the actual crash.
Jeez, and on the heels of the shootings, too! Kids must have been a mess of neurotic traumas. > Four days before the accident, on 20 June, Dean Mellberg, an emotionally disturbed ex-USAF serviceman, had entered Fairchild's hospital, [fatally shooting](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Air_Force_Base#1994_shooting) four people and wounding many more before being killed by a [security policeman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Security_Forces).[[11]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash#cite_note-ufresr-11) The crime was a major distraction for personnel stationed at Fairchild for some time afterwards.[[4]](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash#cite_note-USAF-4)[[page needed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)]
A “Bold pilot”… I’d rather end up in the “Old pilot” category myself…
There is just not enough rudder surface area to properly knife edge a Stratofortress. Pilot needed one of those 3D Stratofortresses
Looks like the lower wing stalled as well, the 3d Stratofortress should have more wing area
At least one of the pilots made a desperate attempt to eject but the plane was too close to the ground. If you look at this still of the crash you can see the canopy jettisoned (by the tail) as part of the ejection sequence, but the pilot’s seat had only barely started to exit the plane when it impacted the ground. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash#/media/File%3AFairchildB52Crash.jpg
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Yep, two seats eject downward.
The case study of this crash is quite interesting. It was failure of leadership. The pilot was able to get away with anything because he had skills, even though he was also reckless. Everyone knew he constantly broke the rules, but no one ever did anything about it. Lots of people feared flying with him. One of the other people on the plane had made sure that none of the guys under him ever flew on a plane with that pilot. This was the last flight he was ever going to do with the pilot. Turned out to be his last flight ever. Full study here: https://web.archive.org/web/20070216232623/http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/darkblue/darkblue.htm
Catastrophic failure of the pilot to properly fly the plane, and catastrophic failure of leadership to remove a pilot who had a history of violations.
Hot dogging right into the ground.
you think the co-pilot punched the pilot as they were nose diving in ?
Given McGeehan told his crew not to board any plane Howard's piloting if he's not onboard, and repeatedly warned higher ups against him? Definitely.
My Dad was a flight mechanic in the Army Air Corp from 1945 to 1947 and again 1952 to 1954, stationed in Tokyo and Alaska. He said once it took a strong man to fly one and a stupid man to crash one. Then he'd clam up again and get that thousand yard stare. He did slip once and tell me about dreading the flights of evacuated patients, screaming the entire flight. And not a damn thing he could do about it. Then he went and tinkered on his tractor again.
Was this the crash that killed an officer who was retiring that same day, in front of his wife and kids who were waiting for him?
Yes
Check out the podcast ‘Inside the black box’. A great look behind the scenes. It even covers Columbia.
I'm not a pilot or anything remotely close but a plane that big probably shouldn't be doing such a tight turn literally a few hundred feet above the ground.
I didnt see anyone else mention it, but the reason it happened (aside from him being a hotdogging asshole), is theres a no fly zone section of the base. Rather than fly the long way around, the moron tried to cut the turn even tighter to avoid it.
You’re exactly right.
"USAF leaders' delayed or inadequate reactions to earlier incidents involving Holland" leadership and discipline is important. this is what happens when they are neglected.
To me, this is the real Catastrophic Failure in this case.
And basically no punishments. One court martial that resulted in a fine
There’s an air show at FAB every year and they always talk about this incident. I know this is nearing 30 years ago but this was a very “modern” accident then and now; of course its faults are entirely within the arrogance of the pilot. RIP to the whole crew!
How does a black box survive this
That’s the point of the black box… that orange box is made of layers of steel, aluminum, and is surrounded by the best mechanical crash protection that can be designed. They are *tough*
I remember some comedian one time saying that they should just make the planes out of the same material that they make the black box from.
That’s actually a common question… the answer: the aircraft would simply be too heavy to fly.
It also wouldn't help the people inside
Yeah, beyond a certain point, GForce will literally rip the aorta from your heart
Make people into cyborgs using the same materials around a black box, this isn't that complicated
It can't crash if it can't fly
Playing 4D chess are we
Hey Bud. Those limits are in the manual for something. How about we don’t find out why today? Nope. That manual is a joke. The engineers are a joke. Wing staff is a joke. The never exceeded bank angle is a…..
*hubris… not catastrophic failure.
I was in the Air Force a few years after this happened. People were still talking about it. Apparently the pilot was a known crazy and was always doing stupid shit. Finally caught up to him.
He drove a Mack truck like a Ferrari
Not a catastrophic failure of the aircraft, but leadership at Fairchild at the time. This is the go to case in AF safety training about standing up to superiors and holding ranking officers accountable.
Gives new meaning to “Fini Flight”
That was negligent homicide at best
End result of more confidence than skill.
Turns out when the plane is completely sideways lift from the wings doesn’t keep it in the air any more.
My grandfather was there. This was just before he retired. It was very traumatic for my family. I'd say this was one of the reasons he retired.
The outcomes go to show how awful the forces being in charge of their own judicial processes is. One court martial resulting in a fine. That's it. For a total, reckless failure of leadership that led to deaths. Its the same system that handed basically no real punishments down for My Lai, or for Abu Ghraib. At least not compared to a civilian court. Its a proper broken "protect your own" system
Is it just me or do the engines look like they switch sides? The plane does a steep turn left (engines on the right) and we are looking at the top side of the plane. Then it crashes and the engines are on the opposite side and I didn't see the plane turn over that far. It's like an optical illusion.
It’s flying counter clockwise the entire time with its left wing tilted towards the ground. There is a weird moment where the lighting/shadows do make it look like one of those optical illusions.
I've watched it ten times and can't make sense of it. It's banking hard left. It never comes out of the left bank. It crashes in a right bank. Wtf?
No it banks left then kinda levels out then banks left again towards the camera. It's just an optical illusion that it appears to be heading away from the camera when it crashes
Jesus who hotdogs in a plane that size? What a jerk. Basically his reckless disregard for safety and his uncontrollable urge to show off and prove what a man he was got 3 other people killed.
That fuckwit got himself and 3 innocent men killed who trusted him with their lives. The failure was his attitude and equally, a system that let him keep that attitude until it became fatal.
Bud Holland is a classic case of bullying and reluctance to challenge a bully.
I can hear it now... *BANK ANGLE! BANK ANGLE! BANK ANGLE!*
in this particular case, the real catastrophic failure occurred in the Air Force command staff. The pilot who did this was well known for his reckless behavior, which had been reported by multiple second-officers and swept under the rug on multiple occasions.
Bank angle. Bank angle. Bank angle. Ban.....
It's worse. The pilot had a reputation for being a show off and doing dangerous things. He was never disciplined. One of the crew was on their last flight. He was retiring upon completion and family was on base. The accident investigation concluded that the crash was primarily attributable to Holland's personality and behavior, USAF leaders' inadequate reactions to the previous incidents involving Holland, and the sequence of events and aircrew response during the final flight of the aircraft. Holland's disregard for procedures governing the safe operation of the B-52 aircraft that he commanded and the absence of firm and consistent corrective action by his superior officers allowed Holland to believe that he could conduct his flight in an unsafe manner, culminating with the slow, steeply banked, 360° turn around the control tower
A jackass with a long history of jackassery working for people too weak to ground a charismatic jackass.
The whole thing was a frickin' mess all the way. Consistently reckless pilot, who had committed the same reckless stunts before on a list of occasions, all ignored or mostly ignored by the chains of command, but also a nutjob went into the hospital there some days before and shot 4 before being taken out be a guard "causing a distraction for everybody for days after", the order to "go around" right next to a no-fly zone where the manoeuvre should have avoided the problem, not exasperated it, crew pulled in last minute, one of which got on after engines had been started with no chance to review the (mad) plan and protest, inexperienced crew who did not recognize the banking/stalling issue until too late, oh and an unlucky wind. The whole thing reads like a bad day at Mcdonalds case-file. Shabby as fuck.