IMAGE: Lubos Pavlicek, globallookpress
On March 28, the US Air Force announced that it had grounded the entire fleet of its B-1B Lancer strategic bombers after discovering a parachute rigging problem during a routine inspection.
“During a routine inspection of the B-1B drogue chute system, potentially fleet-wide issues were identified with the rigging of the drogue chute. It appears to be a procedural issue and is unrelated to the previous problem with egress system components. As a precautionary measure, the commander directed a holistic inspection of the entire egress system. The safety stand-down will afford maintenance and Aircrew Flight Equipment technicians the necessary time to thoroughly inspect each aircraft. As these inspections are completed and any issues are resolved, aircraft will return to flight,” the Air Force said in a statement.
Now, Air Force technicians are going to inspect all 62 of the service’s B-1B aircraft. The bombers will reportedly be returned to flying status on a rolling basis as they are inspected and any issues are resolved.
The March 28 event was the secondgrounding of the B-1B fleet in about one year due to ejection system concerns. In May 2018, the strategic bombers were grounded about three weeks after a B1-B from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas experienced an in-flight emergency and its ejections seats failed to deploy. Then, all aircraft passed technical checks and investigation. However, it seems this was not enough.
The B-1B Lancer is a long-range bomber with four jet engines that has been used by the Air Force for some 30 years. At high altitude, the B-1B Lancer is able to accelerate to speeds of over 1,300 km/h. The B-1B Lancer was used to strike at government facilities in Syria, which the US described as related to the ‘chemical weapons production program’.
BDS !