Another report:
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 465973.txt
Bomber fire set off explosions
By Steve Miller, Journal staff
April 8, 2008
A hydraulic failure caused a B-1B Lancer bomber from Ellsworth Air Force Base to veer off the runway at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar last Friday and catch fire, setting off its bombs, according to a story in the Gulf Times newspaper.
The Gulf Times, an English-language newspaper based in Doha, Qatar, attributed the information about the incident to a military source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the Al Udeid Air Base told the Gulf Times that the Ellsworth B-1, which was landing after a combat mission, caught fire and the blaze set off the munitions onboard, leading to a series of explosions.
The four crew members, all from Ellsworth, were able to evacuate the plane and escape injury, Air Force officials said Friday.
Asked to specify the “ground incident” involving the aircraft, the U.S. official told the Gulf Times the phrase generally referred to situations such as hard brakes, blown tires and bird hits.
The official rejected suggestions that the aircraft had hit anything or that any sort of collision occurred on the ground, according to the story in the Gulf Times.
A series of loud explosions was heard in many parts of Doha on Friday night, and people living near the air base said the blasts shook the ground, causing them to flee their homes, assuming that an earthquake had struck, according to the story.
Operations at Al Udeid were shut down for a time, and all the aircraft were diverted to other locations, an Ellsworth spokesman, Tech. Sgt. Steven Wilson, told the Journal Friday.
The U.S. spokesman who spoke to the Gulf Times said flight operations had returned “mostly back to normal” at the air base, which is located approximately 35 kilometers south of Doha.
The official said no one was hurt in the incident.
The official told the Gulf Times it was too soon to draw conclusions about the cause of the incident. An inquiry has been ordered.
The B-1 is capable of carrying up to 75,000 pounds of bombs and naval mines.
The unnamed official who spoke to the Gulf Times refused to specify the weapons the bomber was carrying at the time of the ground incident on Friday.
The B-1s fly out of Al Udeid, the headquarters for all Air Force air operations in the Middle East, for missions over Iraq and Afghanistan.
In recent years there have been several accidents involving B-1s, none resulting in serious injuries or loss of the planes, which are valued at more than $283 million each, according to the Air Force Times.
In August 2007, a B-1 made an emergency landing at Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan, after an engine caught fire.
In March, a B-1 turned back to Andersen AFB, Guam, after the crew reported a hydraulic leak. After the crew safely landed the plane and got out, due to concerns about fire, the bomber rolled into a pair of parked fire trucks.
In September 2005, a B-1 caught fire after landing at Andersen because leaking hydraulic fluid came in contact with hot brakes.
And in May 2005, the aircrew of a B-1 landing at Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Indian Ocean, forgot to lower the jet’s landing gear, sending the plane skidding down the runway for several thousand feet.
South Dakota’s congressional delegation reaffirmed its support for the B-1, although Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., expressed concern about the age of the fleet.
“My office keeps in close contact with the base commander and has reached out on both B-1 incidents,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “Given that both accidents occurred on the ground while taxiing, at this time I am not concerned about the safety record of the B-1. However, I am concerned that our as our Air Force planes continue to age, they are being flown at higher rates. We must be sure that the Air Force is adequately funded and it is for this reason I continue to coordinate with the Air Force to meet necessary funding requirements.”
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the B-1 continues to be the workhorse of the nation’s bomber fleet and continues to provide vital contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan. “My office has been in contact with the Air Force and I have been assured that this incident is being thoroughly investigated,” Thune said in a prepared statement. “I will continue to use my seat on the Armed Services Committee to champion the B-1 as well as support the accelerated transformation of our military from 20th century technology to next-generation weapons systems,” Thune said.
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said the B-1 remains an essential and high-performing asset to the military. “I'm very pleased and relieved to learn that all the airmen aboard the B-1 in Qatar were able to evacuate unharmed, and I will continue to monitor the situation as details become available.”
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