California: A B-52 Stratofortress bomber from the US Air Force crashed and erupted in flames shortly after taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in California on Monday, killing all eight people aboard, base officials said.
Col. James Hayes, deputy commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards, described the accident as a “horrible tragedy” and said that a review of video footage showed the crash was unsurvivable.
“We lost eight great Americans,” Hayes added during a press briefing Monday.
Hayes said the flight crew was composed of a mixture of uniformed military personnel, government civilians and government contractors. He said the names of those on board will be released 24 hours after next-of-kin have been notified, as reported by ABC News.
Boeing confirmed late Monday that two of the people killed were employees of the aerospace company. “It is with great sadness that we confirm two Boeing employees were among those on board. We are in contact with their families and are offering support,” the company said in a statement.
The base reported the incident occurred at about 11:20 a.m. local time and said emergency responders were at the scene while officials worked to account for all personnel.
Hayes said the cause of the crash is under investigation and that determining what happened could take several months.
Test flights occur multiple times a day at Edwards, Hayes noted. The base often supports developmental and evaluation flights conducted by the Air Force and NASA.
The B-52 Stratofortress, built by Boeing and introduced in the 1950s, remains a key component of US air power. The long-range bomber can carry conventional and nuclear ordnance across great distances and has seen service from the Vietnam War to more recent conflicts in the Middle East.
