A new report says a B-1 crash at Ellsworth Air Force Base was caused by a combination of weather conditions and mistakes by the crew.
The investigation, released Thursday, was performed by the Air Force Global Strike Command.
The bomber crashed on Jan. 4. All four airmen on board ejected. Two were treated for injuries and released.
"This investigation has shown that many failures leading to this mishap were not a one-time occurrence or an aberration," the report, which was signed by Air Force Global Strike Command Board President Col. Erick Lord, said. "I have noted that the mishap occurred due to numerous factors, including a culture of noncompliance, widespread deviation from established policy and procedure, and several organizational influences and preconditions."
While the report noted low visibility and strong winds at the time, it candidly pointed to multiple crew errors contributing to the crash. They included improperly monitoring instruments, a lack of awareness of weather conditions and ineffective flying supervision.
According the report, the bomber was one of two that took part in a training flight. The bombers cut the exercise short when dense fog moved into the airfield. The first aircraft landed safely.
When the second bomber started to land, a wind shear hit the plane from behind, speeding it up. The pilot reduced the throttle to counter. But when the wind died down, the pilot didn't compensate, and the bomber "became thrust deficient." Neither the pilot nor the instructor noticed this in time. The bomber hit the ground short of the runway overrun and the crew ejected. The bomber skidded several thousand feet before coming to a fiery halt.
The report stated crew could have avoided the the crash if they were monitoring instruments correctly during the landing.
But critiques didn’t stop at the crew. Investigators say the crash exposed broader organizational problems. It noted an "unhealthy organizational culture that permitted degradation of airmanship skills, inadequate focus on governing directives, lack of discipline, and poor communication regarding airfield conditions and hazards."
Some of the wider problems noted in the report included personnel at Ellsworth being stretched thin due to recent missions as well as poor communication made worse due to several mid-level leadership positions being left open. The report also notes that the squadron's director of operations said he was focusing on administrative work at the time of the crash, even though he knew adverse weather was moving in and the bomber had an inexperienced crew.
It's still unclear whether anyone involved in the crash will face disciplinary measures.
Ellsworth is currently home to a fleet of aging B-1B Lancer bombers, an aircraft the Air Force plans on retiring sometime in the 2030s. However the future of the base received a major boost in 2019 when the Air Force announced it as one of the future homes of the B-21 Raider, a stealth plane military officials call “the next evolution of the Air Force strategic bomber fleet.”
