A little follow up I found
Ellsworth B-1 catches fire in Middle EastEllsworth B-1 catches fire in Middle East
By Ryan Woodard and Steve Miller, Journal staff
An Ellsworth Air Force Base B-1B Lancer bomber caught fire Friday after landing at the U.S. military's Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, according to Al Udeid public-affairs officials.
Four crew members evacuated the bomber safely, and the fire was contained, said Sgt. Sandra Lucas of the Al Udeid public affairs office.
The plane was taxiing after landing and became involved in a "ground incident," according to Lucas.
Sgt. Steven Wilson of the Ellsworth public affairs office said the crew members from the aircraft were all from Ellsworth.
He said he could not comment on the incident until it has been investigated further.
Air operations at Ellsworth will remain open, he said, but Al Udeid has been shut down.
"The runway is currently closed," he said Friday evening. "All airborne assets assigned to Al Udeid are being diverted to other locations in the interim. It's too soon to know at this point how long it will be closed."
Al Udeid is the headquarters of all U.S. air operations in the Middle East, according to wire reports.
This is the third time in the past month that an Ellsworth bomber has been involved in some type of incident while performing flight operations.
Asked if the frequency of the incidents is a concern for Ellsworth, Wilson said, "Each incident is under investigation by the appropriate authorities."
On Friday, March 7, an Ellsworth B-1 collided with two emergency-response vehicles after landing after reporting an in-flight emergency at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The plane had stopped on the taxiway but began to roll, which led to the collision, according to Ellsworth public affairs officials.
The aircraft was returning to Ellsworth after participating in the Singapore Air Show.
On Thursday, March 20, crews from Box Elder and Ellsworth extinguished several grass fires that were apparently caused by a B-1 that made an emergency landing at the base. Base officials have not confirmed whether the B-1 caused the fires.
Ellsworth officials have released no further information about either of those two incidents.
It is not known whether or when the B-1 that was involved in the Qatar incident will return to Ellsworth, Wilson said.
Despite the most recent incident, the 20-plus-year-old bombers are wearing relatively well, according to Pat McElgunn, director of the Ellsworth Task Force for the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce.
"Things do wear out. But in terms of the integrity of the air frame, the plane is doing just fine," he said. "It's high maintenance because it's a complex aircraft."
McElgunn said military aircraft and crews undergo much greater stress than civilian aircraft, both in combat and training missions.
He said the fire on Friday could have been caused by a multitude of things, including hot brakes or a fuel leak.
As of March of 2007, the B-1 fleet had a total of 500,000 flight hours since the bombers were introduced.
For that amount of flight hours, there have been relatively few accidents, McElgunn said.
There have been nine B-1s crashes, including the crash of a prototype in 1984, according to the Web site globalsecurity.org.
"Every accident is significant," McElgunn said. "That number would be high for civilian aircraft. But military aircraft are put into lots of stress. They have to train hard, they have to train out of the comfort zone. You have to fly like you fight."
Also, McElgunn said, when flying daily missions and long-duration missions, "things break sometimes."
Link
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/04/06/news/local/doc47f68a8fc90d0408650464.txt
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