CanyonAg77 said:

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Rapier108 said:

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And here comes the media trying to blame the crash on something nefarious, either claiming the plane wasn't "safe" to fly, or that it is somehow Boeing's fault.

https://ktla.com/news/california/something-was-wrong-with-the-plane-wife-of-b-52-crash-victim-speaks-out/

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Lauren Smith, the wife of Jeromy Smith, a flight test engineer for the U.S. Air Force who died in the crash, told KTLA that the plane was experiencing issues before Monday's flight.

"My husband told me on Friday that they were supposed to fly on Friday and that something was wrong with the plane," Smith said. "I don't know what was wrong, but the flight kept getting pushed back. He was supposed to fly in the morning and then it got pushed back to noon and then it got pushed back to 2 o'clock. And then they said they're going to have to fix whatever was wrong with it and that they would fly when it was done."

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If her husband were alive today, he'd tell her to STFU.

And any reporter asking questions of a widow a day after an accident should be strapped to a pylon on the next B-52 mission and salvoed over the Mojave Desert.

Also, the aircraft is 66 years old, and they were testing new equipment.

No one should be surprised if some of the flights get delayed.

And there is zero evidence that any of the delays were related to the crash.

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MSM is just propaganda.

I think the T-38s have all been upgraded to the latest seat. Maybe an ACES II ?

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MSM is just propaganda.

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Well, yes, but they are also ignorant idiots. They weren't smart enough to get an education degree, and have zero technical knowledge.

Even if they were trying to be accurate, they would still get things massively wrong.

CanyonAg77 said:

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I think the T-38s have all been upgraded to the latest seat. Maybe an ACES II ?

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I think they are Martin-Baker seats

"The T-38C Talon is equipped with the Martin-Baker US16T rocket-powered ejection seat. This upgraded seat features a zero/zero capability, allowing pilots to safely eject from zero altitude at zero velocity, and includes integrated parachutes, thigh and ankle restraints, and a built-in survival kit."

At least I got the "updated" part correct.

If this is true that the nose was high and kept going higher, it sounds like a stabilizer issue. Maybe stab trim ran away or the pitch SAS malfunctioned and stalled the jet. Pilot error would be not setting the takeoff trim but that procedure is hammered into the checklist procedures so I don't this that was the case.

From an air force group on FB:

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Inbox concerning Edwards B52 incident: "The right wing didn't dip, it was the left. I will say the rest of the stuff you've posted is correct, flight profile, engine flame out. Nothing in forms was open saying it wasn't ready to fly, air crew performed all the normal flight control checks and engine checks before taxi and never called crew chiefs up, there was a small maintenance issue with a non-flight critical component that was addressed and fixed. Your post on the engine flameout is correct, but it was right before they started falling towards the ground. They did take the rudder off of 61 to go on another working a different project, but that was weeks ago. The plane seemed like it was off the ground way too early for a normal takeoff and she was nose high immediately off the ground, so the rudder should have nothing to do with it. It seemed like a mechanical failure, it just kept pulling the nose higher and didn't look like if the pilots were trying to correct it that it was doing anything. She just kept pulling higher and higher. There was a lot of pressure to get this first test flight airborne and I did hear a senior enlisted saying that he had heard rumors that the jet was not flight ready. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't ready, there was a lot of pressure from higher ups outside of Edwards to get this program flying. This jet had been plagued with issues since it got here, from issues with the new systems and major maintenance problems that were fixed. Speculation was that the project was over budget already and was late by a few months for first flight, so there was a lot of pressure to get the first flight in to secure funding." Source

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And that 250' says every actuator works and seat separation occurs.

Didn't realize they kept the gunners seat. No one has to sit on the honey pot anymore.

The story my dad (BUFF pilot in the '80s) always told me was if there was an issue low level and they had to bail out, and he had the opportunity to, he'd roll the jet 90 degrees to give everyone an equal chance of making it out. He said the ejection seats weren't very good back then, but he'd rather not shoot a guy straight into the dirt.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-christopher-hustler-rischars-family

You guys don't know Chris, but I've worked with him on and off for the past 10 years. Never met another person so joyous and with such a positive attitude at work. We jokingly called him Clark one day because of his resemblance to Superman. At an afterwork happy hour he showed up in a Superman t shirt and his nickname was cemented. He loved this country and worked his tail off for it. I'm still pretty gutted over this loss, but I cannot begin to imagine how his wife and kids are doing. Please consider donating. Those are some good people there that need help.

Sorry to hear about your connection. I have yet to hear anything about what happened. Haven't seen any video etc. What are the prevailing theories on the cause?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/b-52-on-test-flight-plunged-at-nearly-a-mile-a-minute-before-crashing-early-data-shows

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The way the B-52 crashed so quickly after takeoff without getting very high or going far makes aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti suspect some kind of flight control malfunction.

It's possible the controls were rigged wrong after maintenance, he said, or a catastrophic engine problem or a failure of a piece of equipment that was being tested.

"I think it was definitely a controllability issue. Now, whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure, or some new testing device failure, I'm not sure," said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

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All just conjecture right now. Will take a while before they announce what caused it. Assuming they do announce it