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by agurk 731 days ago
I'm not aware of a B-52 being crashed in a barrel roll, but this did make me think of the 1994 Fairchild crash[0] that was caused by a pilot who was known as dangerous due to excessive self confidence. In this case he banked too tightly at low level causing a stall into the ground. The whole crash was caught on camera[1], which is indelibly burnt into my memory.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_...

[1] - https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-bud-holland-the...

5 comments

The last 3 seconds of your life as the copilot must have been some revolting emotion knowing that the overconfident asshole in the seat next to you just killed you.
Dutch roll, Bud Holland... Netherlands trifecta is in play.
Thanks, my mistake, this is what I was referring to. Apparently "Bud" would brag about "rolling" B-52s (https://www.historylink.org/File/8716), but the fatal crash was actually just a low-altitude stall as you pointed out. It's now a textbook case study for systemic leadership failure.
I'm pretty sure that's the crash GP was referring to. It sort of looks like he could have been going into a barrel roll.
Man, that is just one big ass airplane to even consider wanting to do any kind of maneuvering without threat indicators blinking/buzzing/beeping/toning that your death is imminent without doing some of that "pilot shit".

The story from your [0] about one of the crew's last flight with his family on the ground waiting for the post-flight rituals where his wife and 2 kids watching is just horrific. What a fucking asshat of a person.