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 ...
The 2 contractors killed in the incident were (wait for it) Boeing workers.
In the case of the B-52 it's because the aircaft still performs critical military tasks that other can't do as well.
No machine is perfect, and military aircraft are especially complex where everything has to be working right because there is no safety net when you're air borne. With the number of hours these old girls fly, they have an outstanding safety record. It's big news when one does fail.
If we started building new bombers to replace what these birds are doing, people would scream bloody murder at the expense, and not just on the Left.
I think this was more of an Air Force problem than a Boeing problem.
This plane a B-52H was built between 1961 and 1963. B-52H models were upgraded in 2013 and slated to be upgraded again once the Rolls-Royce turbo fan engine upgraded passes testing.
It’s the airframe though...it’s ancient and old/weathered.
So am I, but I'm not ready for the scrapyard yet. 😉
Indeed and Boeing did not always have a poor record when it came to safety and accountability. It was the gold standard, but the corruption of its leadership in the past decade plus has been nothing short of criminal:
Deep State, Dirty, and Deathly.
Regardless, aging equipment — even of the best kind — is still aged...
“BOEING mishaps are not just limited to its commercial aircraft.”
Uh, not to defend the modern Boeing clown management (they’re still suffering from McDonald Douglas disease). But let’s wait and see if there will ever be large aircraft built by any other company that are still planned to be used after a 100 year life. If you want to knock Boeing designs and longevity, try being an engineer before speaking. If you want to knock Boeing “management”, be my guest, because it appears that they’ve had none for the past 20 years or so.
I understand...if you scroll down I clarify that. And I know Boeing wasn’t always bad even on the management end. The “Deep State, Dirty, Deathly” phase is a recent phenomenon.
Well, son of a gun..
Tomorrow plus a month is the thirtieth anniversary.
I wonder who Hal1950 is shilling for these days?
65 years of design flight, yes. Then you get the variances
D models flew over Vietnam, while G and J models stood ready to deliver nukes to Moscow
You are an idiot, 70 years of service millions of tons of bombs dropped, a crash on a test hop. Your father is crying that he raised such a dope. Congrats.
I’ll wait for the report. God bless the crewman and their families.
One phrase to keep in mind about aviation...Stuff Happens. Sometimes it is big stuff. Sometimes it is little stuff.
We live in a society where every uninformed armchair nitwit finds it necessary to affix blame for everything that happens. Many years ago a KC135 out of Elmendorf ate a whole flock of geese, lost all engines, crashed and burned. No survivors. Two weeks ago I got hit by an adverse wind on landing. Aircraft totaled I walked away. Stuff Happens.
.
And constantly monitored and repaired.
They don't just fly them until they fall apart FFS.
You don’t know airframes do you?
Apparently better than you do.
Oh good grief! B-52s have been in service since 1952! They are really old airplanes. Shame on you.
Apparently you don’t. How many years did you serve in the Air Force?
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