EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (KABC) — An eight-person crew died after an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, located northeast of Lancaster, officials confirmed Monday. The Air Force base said the accident occurred during a “routine test mission.”
“An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine test mission crashed today shortly after takeoff at 11:20 a.m. (Pacific Time). Initial indications are that the accident was not survivable. Emergency response personnel are on scene, and officials are working to hold all individuals accountable. The accident is currently being investigated,” the base wrote in a statement.
The base is located in the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, officials confirmed that eight people had been killed. The victims were described as a mixed crew of military personnel, government civilians and government contractors. Their names were not immediately released as officials work to notify their relatives.
Boeing confirmed in a statement that two of its employees were on board the plane.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the eight crew members who lost their lives in the B-52 crash at Edwards Air Force Base, California,” Boeing wrote. “It is with great sadness that we confirm that two Boeing employees were among those on board. We are in contact with their families and offering them support.”
“We have lost eight great Americans. This incident is considered unsurvivable, and now our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost loved ones,” Colonel James Hayes said at the press conference.
Hayes said the B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff on a mission in support of the Radar Modernization Program, which he described as a domestic test mission. Upon impact, the plane immediately caught fire.
Responders quickly took action to extinguish the fire. Officials reviewed footage of the accident and deemed it unrecoverable and unsurvivable. Hayes noted that test missions occur daily, several times a day, at the Air Force base.
AIR7 flew over the runway at the Air Force base, where the charred, still-smoldering wreckage of the B-52 bomber could be seen. What was left of the bomber appeared to be mostly ash.
Just a few hundred meters from the crash site, an intact B-52 bomber was seen in AIR7 video.
A shocking mobile phone video shows a huge amount of smoke and fire immediately after the accident.
“At this point, we have no indication as to what caused that,” Hayes said. “We won’t be able to release that information, and we don’t have access to it anytime soon.”
Investigators are now digging through the debris field in search of the plane’s black box and other equipment on board that could provide vital clues about what went wrong.
The interim safety board is conducting a preliminary gathering of facts, which will then be handed over to the safety investigation board, which will look into the root causes of the accident, officials said. He said this process will take about 30 days.
These results will then be sent to the Accident Investigation Committee, which will determine what information can be released to the public and next of kin. This process could take up to six months, Hayes said.
Operations at Edwards Air Force Base have been suspended as the investigation on the runway continues.
The Air Force and NASA regularly conduct test flights of new and developmental aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base.
The B-52 Stratofortress – which typically carries a crew of five – is a long-range bomber that was first introduced in the 1950s and remains a core part of the US Army Air Force. The plane, built by Boeing at a cost of at least $84 million, is capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons over long distances, and has been used in conflicts ranging from Vietnam to operations in the Iran War. It can fly 8,800 miles without refueling and can carry heavy payloads, making it a vital military aircraft.
“It’s part of the backbone of the U.S. military’s nuclear triad,” said Luis Martinez, ABC News’ chief Pentagon correspondent. “That includes submarine-launched missiles, we have intercontinental ballistic missiles, and then we have long-range ballistic missiles that the B-52s are part of.”
FILE: A B-52 Stratofortress flies over the White House on Saturday, July 4, 2020, in Washington.
ABC News contributed to this report.
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