Posted on 06/16/2026 4:01:56 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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.”
The B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff at 11:20 a.m. Officials said that the crew was a mix of military personnel, government civilians and government contractors who were taking part in a local test mission related to a radar modernization program.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Military aviation.
I was a crew member on an aircraft that flew VFR (following our junk hauler) from Okinawa to Guam. Crazy.
It’s either pilot error if the pilot/crew die or mechanical if it crashes with survivors..
Yes, something was wrong with the plane. They called this a test flight. Don’t know why they needed so many people on the plane.
One pitch black night we landed on Kwajalein in the middle of a typhoon, wind across the runway at 75kts.
We finally landed on the 4th approach, which is good because we were completely out of gas.
Exactly, a test flight should not need that many people but dang what do I know, either way this is a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE tragedy, I feel for all the victims just terrible :(
That's a pretty loose statement considering that an airplane is thousands of parts flying in formation and all of those parts have to do their job all the time.
Watch a few episodes of Air Disasters and you’ll appreciate the pertinence of the most recent maintenance performed on the aircraft.
The B-52 is a very mature and proven airframe. That was not the test.
The various systems being integrated each needed an operator. It would be perfectly normal to have them on a flight to monitor their respective system.
The plane is 65 years old. I don’t think Boeing had anything to do with this.
Oh shut up!
That didn't take long for the media to hook up with a relative of the victims of the crash.
Like those F-22s going TransPac that lost navigation at the international date line and had to follow their refueling support back east to land
she has as much credibility as Pierre Salinger on plane crashes
To be fair, that was my sense. That it was an age thing, but I still believe the Boeing of today needs more accountability for its mishaps that get pushed under the rug.
I do not believe the Boeing of yesteryear displayed the same level of carelessness.
So the bigger question is, why is our military using such old equipment?!?!
Definitely!!! I ORAY it wasn’t SABOTAGE!
So the bigger question is, why is our military using such old equipment?!?!
US equipment is very well maintained.
The B52 is ancient though. Clearly it’s a maintenance issue if it is a plane failure.
My understanding is that this flight was testing RADAR updates and Boeing employees were aboard for that reason.
Prayers to all affected.
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