Support: Making a Three Engine B-1 Take Off

Archives

October 31, 2007: Last August, a U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber was operating over Afghanistan when one of its engines failed and caught fire. An emergency landing was made at Kandahar airport. Now the air force had to figure out how to get its $280 million bomber back into action. While it was possible to fly a new engine, and maintenance personnel, into Kandahar to make the repairs, it was considered more practical to just remove the engine, and fly the bomber, on three engines, to the nearest base that was equipped for an engine change. That base happened to be in Britain. It took over a month to plan and carry out the operation. A team of mechanics were flown to Kandahar to remove the 15 foot long, two ton engine, and prepare it to be flown out separately for repairs. Meanwhile, back in the United States, a B-1 flight simulator was reprogrammed to depict a three engine flight. Using the simulator, the flight from Afghanistan to Britain was rehearsed. Finally, in October, a special flight crew, who had practiced flying a B-1 on three engines in the simulator, went to Kandahar, and flew the damaged B-1 back to Britain. The aircraft refueled in the air twice along the way. A fresh engine (there are no new ones, as the last F101 engine was built twenty years ago) is being installed, so the B-1 can return to service.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close