B-52 on test flight plunged at a rate of nearly a mile a minute before crashing, killing 8

AP ^ | June 16, 2026 | CHRISTOPHER WEBER and JOSH FUNK

[McGruff]

The B-52 involved in a deadly crash during a test flight at an Air Force base in California made a sharp right and then nearly completed a 180-degree turn before plunging to the ground at a rate of nearly a mile a minute, limited tracking data shows Tuesday.

The B-52 was airborne for 3 minutes and 15 seconds before it crashed, according to AirNav Systems.

The flight tracking that was available Tuesday shows the bomber turning to the northeast right after taking off and nearly completing a 180 degree turn before crashing on another runway, according to AirNav Systems. The data that comes from a system called “multilateration” doesn’t show precise altitude and speed information, but it does show the plane fell to earth at a rate of descent of 5,056 feet (1,541 meters) per minute — nearly 10 times as fast as a plane normally descends when preparing to land.

[Sicon]

A mile a minute, also known as 60 mph, but that doesn’t sound as frightening, I guess.

[KitJ]

Prayers for the families of the eight souls lost.

[lee martell]

Awful for everyone involved.
Human error? Mechanical error? Sabotage?
The general public may never fully know, though I’m certain the families will keep asking until they get some sort of explanation.

[volare737]

That’s like hitting a wall at 60 mph with tens of thousands of pounds of gas (probably much more)…..kind of frightening to me.

Feeling really bad for the families here.

[Psalm 73]

They were installing and testing radar components - aircraft electrical systems can be pretty complex - a chafing harness or an incorrect splice (among thousands), coupled with a flawed check-out can be catastrophic.

(I have no idea what happened, but have spent a career modifying aircraft and there are a million things that can go wrong.)

[rexthecat]

I think that plane was built around 1965.

[volare737]

I agree. We won’t know what happened for a while, but it appears to be some sort of flight control problem.

I am confident the cuase will be found though,,,,,accident investigation teams are very good.

[zeebee]

Any object in freefall will fall at twice that speed. 120 mph is called terminal velocity.

[ChuckHam]

Sounds like the wing commander in Washington state that tried to do a sharp turn and lost it killing all aboard.

[ChuckHam]

The WC warned the pilot that caused the crash previously for his reckless flying. My bad.

[pelican001]

That decent rate of 5056 feet per minute is equivalent to 57.5 miles/hour. That’s got to be a hell of an impact on the ground.

[Who is John Galt?]

A mile a minute, also known as 60 mph, but that doesn’t sound as frightening, I guess.

Yeah, it's one of the things I detest about 'journalists'. And it's even more detestable when they change units in a single article to push their agenda. I have seen them on multiple occasions report the quantity of oil spilled in gallons ("4,200 gallons of oil spilled into the river...") and the quantity of oil recovered in barrels ("...so far just 100 barrels of oil have been recovered"). Most people do not know that 4,200 gallons is the same as 100 barrels...

[Rockingham]

My guess is structural failure due to damage from the new installation.

[ALPAPilot]

VSI 5280

[faithhopecharity]

i sure hope they find out the cause so they can fix this if it is a problem in other planes

[GMThrust]

Sounds like Spokane. Those spoilerons can be a bitch. Sorry for the families.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

That’s pretty much how planes crash, not that these families need to read this kind of headline right now.

What’s to hurry to explain how tragic the end was right now?

[dynoman]

IN aircraft it’s the rate of accent or decent. In this case it was descending at 5280 feet per minute.

[Gunslingr3]

A test pilot isn’t a stunt pilot. Very unlikely that ‘hot dogging’ was the cause of this accident.