At issue, Brown said, is the rigging of a drogue parachute system discovered during an inspection. The Air Force was concerned the issue could be fleet-wide and ordered the inspections. A drogue parachute is a small parachute that is deployed before the main parachute. In the ejection system, it is used to stabilize the airman’s seat before the main parachute ejects from it.
In its statement, the Air Force described the stand down as a precaution.
“The safety of airmen is the command’s top priority and this precautionary step will enable the command to correct any potential issues,” the statement reads.
Brown said Thursday that none of the Air Force’s B-1Bs are now deployed overseas or supporting direct combat operations. He declined to predict how long the stand down could last.
The Boeing-built B-1B, known as the Bone, is a long-range bomber with four jet engines that has been used by the Air Force for some 30 years including in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It boasts the largest payload of conventional weapons of any U.S. military aircraft, capable of carrying tens of thousands of pounds of a wide variety of guided and unguided bombs, according to the Air Force.
ping
PROLOG: Back when Jimma Carter was Potus I went to the Air Force Museum at Dayton Ohio. We visitors were alerted that a unique sight was in the offing outside, but no pictures could be taken. It was a B-1 Lancer landing at Dayton, they has security people watching us. It was still during the cold war.
Forward to last summer; Every night at the Osh Kosh mega air show in Wisconsin they have an air show (every morning and afternoon also) but this night turned out to be stormy. Like majorly stormy.
So my pilot and BIL (we flew in and camped under the wing) agreed with me to hang at the beer tent and see what happens because they're supposed to have the B-1 fly out of there. It did. I thought it was pretty cool they spiralled up after takeoff pointing the jet exhaust as best they could at us to who knows, maybe 80,000 ft? I thought it sounded cool with the background God made thunder. My BIL Viet Vet A-7 & F-18 test pilot thought not very impressed. He's probably right, I'm just easily amused.
They had tornado warnings so they closed down all bus transportation. We walked about two miles back to our aircraft. When we got there he headed to the trailers to take a shower and I headed to the tent beside the airplane.
It's an odd thing to be holding on to the insides of a tent that's about to be knocked down by a storm that you just tied off as best you could to an aircraft sitting just feet away while family and friends are texting you that you're in a tornado warning. We lived. It was a cool trip. We had a great time.
The Bone can deploy more ordinance than the Buff?
Beautiful airplane.
Army and Air Force para rigger here-
The B-1 punched out a capsule with all crew ejecting at the same time.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=b-1+ejection+capsule&atb=v99-6_g&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=pXGmpq_vVOg
http://ejectionsite.com/b1amodule.htm
Then switched to individual seats.
http://ejectionsite.com/b1seat.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_B-1_Lancer#B-1A_program
I WILL BE SURE ALWAYS (rigger motto)
In the civilian skydiving world, when someone deploys a reserve parachute, packed by someone other than themselves- the unwritten rule is that a licensed senior rigger or master rigger that is qualified to pack the reserve parachute, and did do so, shall be given a bottle of fine Scotch whiskey.
The truth of the matter is that the skydiver has to do the right thing to save his or her life, and should be given all of the credit, as the rigger is merely doing their chosen craft correctly, as it should be done.
When in doubt, whip it out!
Boeing-owned...Boeing-maintained...
But they were all built by North American - Rockwell, weren't they?
Nickpick, but what the hell.
Ok, this seems problematic to me.
So they're stating that IF the ejection system worked, we would have lost a multi-million $ aircraft, AND it could have crashed in a populated area killing and injuring many people.
I guess that is better than the crew dying (?) however, it turned out that they were still able to land it, so....
Does that mean the initial emergency was not such an emergency that required bailing?
As an Air Force Retiree, I thought we would always fight to maintain control, especially in situation such as this.
Many men have died to avoid killing those on the ground, as it should be.
Two Lancer B1B just flew over the Rose Parade this morning.