Eight people have been killed after a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed immediately after takeoff on Monday morning at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The aircraft, which was on a routine test mission supporting a radar modernisation programme, burst into flames on the runway at approximately 11:20 a.m. local time. "Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable," the base said in a statement, a conclusion confirmed by Colonel James Hayes, the base's deputy commander, at an afternoon press conference.
The eight victims comprised a "mixed crew" of uniformed military personnel, government civilians and contractors, Hayes said. Among them were two employees of Boeing, the aerospace company that designed and built the aircraft. Aerospace giant Boeing confirmed their deaths and said it was in contact with the families. The names of those killed will not be released until next of kin have been notified. Aerial footage of the crash site showed a charred, smouldering patch of desert larger than a football field, with no large pieces of recognisable wreckage visible — only emergency vehicles at the perimeter. California Governor Gavin Newsom called it "a tragic incident" and offered his condolences.
The flight was part of a programme to upgrade the B-52's radar system from analogue to digital, an effort intended to keep the aircraft operational until around 2050. The cause of the crash is under investigation and could take up to six months to determine fully. Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator with both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters he suspects a flight control malfunction, given how quickly and close to the ground the aircraft went down. "I think it was definitely a controllability issue — whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure, or some new testing device failure, I'm not sure," he said, adding that test flights carry inherent additional risks.
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress has been the backbone of the US strategic bomber force since entering service in 1955. Capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds of weapons — including conventional bombs, precision-guided missiles and nuclear warheads — at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet, the aircraft has a combat range of more than 8,000 miles without refuelling. It has seen action in conflicts from Vietnam to recent operations in the Middle East. Monday's crash is the first involving a B-52 since one went down on the Pacific island of Guam in May 2016, in which all seven crew survived. Only the H model remains in the active US Air Force inventory.
Edwards Air Force Base, established in the 1930s around a dry lake bed, spans roughly 481 square miles of the Mojave Desert and is the Air Force's largest airfield. It is the home of the 412th Test Wing, responsible for developmental testing of all Air Force aircraft and weapons systems, and carries a storied place in aviation history as the site where test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947. Following the crash, all flight operations at the base were grounded at least through Tuesday, inbound aircraft were diverted, and non-commercial visitor access was suspended to allow emergency response teams to operate freely.