Air Force officials release B-1B accident report

  • Published
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) --  A brake-metering-valve failure caused a B-1B Lancer to collide with two aircraft rescue firefighting vehicles March 7 in Guam, according to an Air Combat Command accident investigation board released here Sept. 2.

The board determined the aircraft began to roll forward after engine shutdown at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. 

Malfunction of the right-hand brake-metering valve caused depletion of the associated brake-system accumulators, rendering the aircraft's brake systems inoperative when the engines shut down.

There were no injuries. Damage to the B-1B assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., and the two firefighting vehicles assigned to Andersen AFB totaled $5.8 million.

Contributing factors to the mishap included a slight taxiway declination, failure of the aircraft to be chocked in a timely manner and the inability of the firefighting vehicles to successfully clear the path of the rolling B-1B. The in-flight loss of the No. 3 hydraulic system due to improper swage operations and post-task inspection caused the initial in-flight emergency that necessitated landing at Andersen AFB, so it was also cited as a substantially contributing factor.

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