A relative of a crew member who survived a B-1B Lancer crash in South Dakota earlier this year said the official accident investigation report into the mishap wrongly criticized the airman's weight and unfairly put blame on Ellsworth Air Force Base personnel.
Joni Smith, the mother-in-law of the instructor pilot of the aircraft, told Military.com she had submitted letters raising concerns about the incident to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, as well as members of the state's delegation in Washington, D.C. One criticism was that Smith said the report inaccurately highlighted the airman's alleged weight as being "nearly 260" pounds, which the report stated was over the 245-pound maximum, something the investigator said "further highlights the unit's degradation of culture and discipline."
Smith detailed in her letter and in an interview with Military.com that her son-in-law never officially weighed more than 245 pounds, was never disqualified from flying, and passed his last physical fitness test just six weeks before the crash. She said that his alleged weight mentioned in the report was taken in a hospital bed, which she called an inaccurate and unfair way to gather that data, especially as he was bandaged up and swollen from the crash.
"A medical professional at Monument Health stated that hospital bed weights are not accurate body measurements," Smith wrote. "The weight was taken after the crash with a neck brace, boot brace, pelvic binder, legs binder, blanket, layers of bedding and pads, a remote for pain med, multiple IVs, multiple probes and cords, bandaging on three wounds, hospital gown, and blood pressure strap."
Even as her son-in-law is still healing from serious back injuries as a result of ejecting from the B-1B Lancer, Smith said it's possible that he could face disciplinary action due to his alleged weight.
The crash that Smith's son-in-law was injured in happened Jan. 4 at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The B-1B Lancer, valued at $450 million, was on a training exercise with four crew members aboard. The bomber crashed roughly 100 feet short of the runway, skidded more than 5,000 feet down the tarmac, and then caught on fire.
All four crew members safely ejected; Smith's son-in-law suffered multiple fractures and severely injured his spine.
Col. Erick Lord, the Accident Investigation Board president, issued a scathing report that was publicized late last month. The report pointed to a "failure to perform standard crew resource management," along with adverse weather conditions, ineffective flying operations supervision, lack of awareness, and "an unhealthy organizational culture that permitted degradation of airmanship skills" as contributing factors in the crash, Military.com first reported.
Lord also singled out the instructor pilot's weight, saying "in a review of the post-mishap medical treatment records, there is evidence the weight of the [instructor pilot] exceeded the maximum weight limit of the ACES II ejection seat (211 lbs.) and Air Force-adjusted maximum weight limit (245 lbs.) for safe and effective use."
The report claims the instructor pilot was just under the 245-pound weight limit before the mishap and states that the post-mishap report of nearly 260 pounds weight "likely contributed to the severity of the injuries noted from the mishap."
Air Force Global Strike Command did not respond to many of the specific claims in Smith's letter that Military.com detailed, but said the organization was taking actions as a result of the report's findings.
"The AIB report details the cause of the mishap, crew landing short of the runway and additional factors that contributed to the accident," Air Force Global Strike Command spokesman Lt. Col. John Severns told Military.com. "The 28th Bomb Wing has been working to address those factors, plus taking appropriate administrative actions. The Air Force does not discuss the results of those types of action as they are protected by the Privacy Act."
Roughly a week after the findings became public, the commander of the 28th Operations Group was fired from his role "due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command, based on the findings of an Accident Investigation Board report into the Jan. 4 crash of a B-1B bomber at Ellsworth," Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement.
Lord took aim at the 28th Operational Support Squadron and the 34th Bomb Squadron, both of which are under the 28th Operations Group commander's leadership, in the report, saying "the lack of effective flying operations supervision" and the "failure to communicate airfield and weather capabilities and conditions all speak to culture and leadership issues."
The incident marked the first time in more than a decade that a B-1B Lancer had crashed. The previous crash occurred in August 2013, when a bomber flying out of Ellsworth went down near Broadus, Montana, causing fire damage to private property and destroying the aircraft.
Smith explained that the recent crash was already a lot for the crew to grapple with, but the subsequent report by Lord caused even more stress and worries for the airmen and others at the base.
The mother-in-law of the crew member also took aim at other specifics in the report, claiming that icing and wind shear played larger roles in the crash than stated in the findings, and she said that Lord's "comments are seething with hatred and disrespect to the outstanding aviators of the 34th Bomb Squadron."
Aviators and crew members who have served at Ellsworth, who spoke to Military.com under condition of anonymity to discuss base culture, said the report harmed morale and made them feel like they weren't dedicated to their jobs, especially when members of the B-1B Lancer community say they're already doing more with fewer people, airplanes and resources compared to other airframes.
"Anytime a hit like this comes in, it does real damage to morale," a former aviator said. "It really gave the impression that one mistake occurs and you're going to get hung out to dry, and the root cause for that mistake being made wasn't a culture of wanton disregard for regulation, it was incredibly inexperienced people being pushed too hard and too fast."
Another former Ellsworth crew member told Military.com that the airman whose weight was criticized in the report is physically fit and regularly lifts weights. The airman said critiques like the one in Lord's report harm members of the B-1B community not just in South Dakota, but also at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, which also flies the bomber.
"I think it's unfair," the former crew member said. "I think they never got to the root cause of the problem. ... We don't have enough manning anymore in order for the squadrons to be manned at whatever the full rate is now."
Just months before the crash, in November, the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth was awarded the Fairchild Trophy for winning the Global Strike Challenge -- a competition showcasing the wing's maintenance and operational skills.
Lord's criticism of the B-1B Lancer unit at Ellsworth comes as the Air Force plans to eventually phase out the aging bomber, which was first introduced in the 1980s, for the new B-21 Raider.
The Department of Defense has said it plans to acquire somewhere around 100 B-21s, more than the Air Force's current B-2 and B-1B Lancer fleets combined. Each new bomber costs an estimated $700 million, according to a service fact sheet.
Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement to Military.com that there is a proposal to temporarily relocate 17 B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth to Grand Forks Air Force Base in nearby North Dakota between February and November 2025, roughly 10 months, to work on runway repairs preparing for the future arrival of the B-21.
Additionally, around 800 personnel from Ellsworth would transfer to Grand Forks to support the B-1B operations.
