Hat’s off to Otto for sharing this experience with everyone. It takes a lot of courage to stand up there to talk about (and in the process re-experiencing) a terrifying event like this. Especially the part regarding losing a respected brave colleague in this way.
As a nav engineer in the B-1B program, I remember the events well. I was responsible for testing the offensive avionics suite and it was before the advent of GPS. Getting the navigation properly aligned with radar fixes, etc. was a challenge. Kudos to Otto for making this presentation.
Otto did a good job in presenting the events that caused the tragic death of Doug Benefield, chief test pilot. Test pilots are in a risky business, it was a sad day for the B-1 Flight Test program and an unfortunate end for Doug, may he rest in peace. Thank you.
This was truly one of your best, such a thorough and deep analysis of flight-testing gone bad. What a great job you do shearing these lectures on RUclips!
I have used this video, not as a copy, but my interpretation of the lessons from FTE Waniczek, and his account, in a short paper on Flight Test Engineering in my Masters Program in Aerospace Engineering, thanks.
Well presented! Thank you Otto. Dick was the hero of this tragic event. Through this sacrifice, many other injuries/deaths loss of aircraft was possibly prevented. The tragic of Doug Benefield, Senior Chief test pilot, was a blow that would have been felt throughout the community for years to come
I used to watch the B-1s do full afterburner touch and goes at Kirtland AFB when I was working on aircraft on the flightline at night. He's right, it's very impressive.
Outstanding sir!!! I remember back in 88 or 89 I was living in St Pete Fl, I was outside doing something useless when out of nowhere this huge beautiful A/C with 4 screaming engines with fire belching out the back flew over our house!!! There was an airshow going on that weekend and I'm not sure if that a/c was there for display or if it was just a fly over, but oh my what a machine!!! Thank you for shedding some light on this beautiful machine :-)
Thank God for the lives of men like Doug Benefield. Even in their sacrifice, they teach us critical lessons that allow us to continue our missions. Every loss is one too many, , but as long as we can learn the lessons from the accident, we can wipe our tears and continue. When I was in the Air Force, I was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where my Uncle, Major General Peter Odgers was the Commander of the B-1 SPO of the Aeronautical Systems Division, which drove my First Sergeant, Raymond Lassiter, straight out of his mind on more than one occasion. If I remember correctly, Dick Rynolds was at General Odgers's retirement ceremony in late 1987. Another of my heroes whom I got to meet. Those were the high points of my 18 years in the Military.
at abbottsford airshow in Canada, a line B1 was there performing high performance maneuvers near the ground. As it rolled and pitched, the air was torn asunder with its control surfaces. You could visually see the turbulence off its control surfaces. It reminded me of a fighter plane only writ large. sweeeeeet!
these videos are fantastic- so much awesome footage and stories. just found this channel last week. endless videos, all very long and tons of content. this is fantastic, thanks
I wonder why low speed data collection was done at such a low altitude at least until they had more data on how the plane handles in those areas. This poor man no doubt relives this everyday. We’re all human and these things will sadly happen and they did the best they could and like he himself said, he made certain they learned from it.
Warning Fatigue is key element in most "pilot error". The aircraft becomes the boy who cried wolf. If every movement of a parameter triggers a warning then of course over time the pilot will be conditioned to ignore the warning. I am movingmore to the position that 99% of "pilot error" could be resolved with better aircraft cockpit and systems design that accounted for human factor.
Another great speaker, as always. One question I asked myself was, if insufficient airspeed was the cause of the crash, why didn't the pilot push the throttles forward?
Insufficient speed wasn't cause of the crash. Incorrect Centre of Gravity for the commanded wingsweep put the aircraft in an unstable area of the flight envelope. Once that pitch up happens the aircraft becomes divergent (the more it pitches up, the more it wants to pitch up, vicious cycle) and by that point you're really a passenger to the scene of the accident. No amount of thrust or flying skill is going to bring an aircraft thats 20+% beyond the aft CG limit back under control, specially not within the 4000ish feet they had to play with.
The F-111 was MUCH faster than the B-1. Actually, one of the fastest planes on the deck AND at altitude. The F-111 could hit Mach 1.2+ at low altitude and probably go faster but as I understand it they had a temperature gauge to tell the pilot when to slow down but it was a difficult plane to chase down in clean (no external stores) condition. At low altitude, a B-1B can hit Mach 0.92-0.95 but isn't designed to go supersonic at low level. It can hold that speed at low altitude for 1700 miles or no which is a FAR longer range than any fighter than could be vectored at it. Many fighters STILL have issues with going supersonic at low altitude and they come across hard technical limitations -- oh, there are stories about some planes that AREN'T "the end all" in every situation like some people would have you believe. There's a combination of inlet and engine issues that DO limit the speeds of some planes dramatically depending on the situation. At altitude (33,000-36,000 ft), a clean F-model (the most powerful F-111 built) could achieve Mach 2.73 ... They just spilled the beans on its ultimate speed since the type will NEVER go back into service or ever fly again in American or Australian service. The planes have been grounded for good but you can still visit them in museums in the UK, Australia, or the US.
Definitely. That's how the 509th flew them until the end of the Cold War, unless they had a conventional mission. As it was explained to me, the more common load was two RLs with extra fuel tanks in the third bay. In DEFCON 2, though, all three bay's were hot.
The Bone was a troubled aircraft from the beginning. A LOT of politics involved to go along with its arrogance problems. The curtain came down and it lost its mission. Now I hear that Boeing is considering turning it into a supersonic gunship. I also hear that their readiness numbers are not good. A beautiful aircraft that seems to have born under a bad sign.
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
Peninsula Seniors Consistently provides one of the best series of videos on RUclips, a hidden Gem!
Matt Hayward
Hi Matt......definitely right.....
God save the queen...
Cheers from france👋
@@avoidingtrees6692
Agree.
So happy I stumbled upon this channel.
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité!
peace from germany
You tube is the last bastion of non dumbed down video content.
It is, especially you love military aviation
I agree 2 ,000,000.7 percent
Hat’s off to Otto for sharing this experience with everyone. It takes a lot of courage to stand up there to talk about (and in the process re-experiencing) a terrifying event like this. Especially the part regarding losing a respected brave colleague in this way.
As a nav engineer in the B-1B program, I remember the events well. I was responsible for testing the offensive avionics suite and it was before the advent of GPS. Getting the navigation properly aligned with radar fixes, etc. was a challenge. Kudos to Otto for making this presentation.
Thank you Otto. I was a supervisor/coordinator on that aircraft the day of the crash. My life changed forever. This presentation is wonderful.
Excellent and emotional talk, I got to see two B-1Bs take off w/ full afterburners. Highly impressive.
Otto did a good job in presenting the events that caused the tragic death of Doug Benefield, chief test pilot. Test pilots are in a risky business, it was a sad day for the B-1 Flight Test program and an unfortunate end for Doug, may he rest in peace.
Thank you.
A great man sharing his experiences with such honesty. It is super impressive! Greetings from Budapest, Hungary!
fascinating, im not a senior but this is my favorite stuff to watch
This was truly one of your best, such a thorough and deep analysis of flight-testing gone bad. What a great job you do shearing these lectures on RUclips!
Like
Top man and also seemingly a lovely bloke! Hats off to you sir.
I don’t even fly and this was really interesting. Thank you for your service Otto!
I have used this video, not as a copy, but my interpretation of the lessons from FTE Waniczek, and his account, in a short paper on Flight Test Engineering in my Masters Program in Aerospace Engineering, thanks.
Outstanding presentation and good job of capturing it on video(AND audio)!
Insert rest points between test points. Incredible video, sorry for the loss, precious and valuable lessons.
My deep respect for mr Waniczek. An honest person.
Well presented! Thank you Otto. Dick was the hero of this tragic event. Through this sacrifice, many other injuries/deaths loss of aircraft was possibly prevented. The tragic of Doug Benefield, Senior Chief test pilot, was a blow that would have been felt throughout the community for years to come
Greetings from Helsinki, Finland. As kids these days would say: This youtube channel rocks big time.
And Hello from an American "Forest Finn" (left Finland around 1740)
My great grandparents left Finland just over 100 years ago also..
I used to watch the B-1s do full afterburner touch and goes at Kirtland AFB when I was working on aircraft on the flightline at night. He's right, it's very impressive.
Outstanding sir!!! I remember back in 88 or 89 I was living in St Pete Fl, I was outside doing something useless when out of nowhere this huge beautiful A/C with 4 screaming engines with fire belching out the back flew over our house!!! There was an airshow going on that weekend and I'm not sure if that a/c was there for display or if it was just a fly over, but oh my what a machine!!! Thank you for shedding some light on this beautiful machine :-)
Thank God for the lives of men like Doug Benefield. Even in their sacrifice, they teach us critical lessons that allow us to continue our missions. Every loss is one too many, , but as long as we can learn the lessons from the accident, we can wipe our tears and continue.
When I was in the Air Force, I was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where my Uncle, Major General Peter Odgers was the Commander of the B-1 SPO of the Aeronautical Systems Division, which drove my First Sergeant, Raymond Lassiter, straight out of his mind on more than one occasion. If I remember correctly, Dick Rynolds was at General Odgers's retirement ceremony in late 1987. Another of my heroes whom I got to meet. Those were the high points of my 18 years in the Military.
The king of understatement, "the ejection was abrupt"! Thank you sir.
at abbottsford airshow in Canada, a line B1 was there performing high performance maneuvers near the ground. As it rolled and pitched, the air was torn asunder with its control surfaces. You could visually see the turbulence off its control surfaces. It reminded me of a fighter plane only writ large. sweeeeeet!
Great video...Worked B1 flightline @ McConnell.
Peace. RIP.
these videos are fantastic- so much awesome footage and stories. just found this channel last week. endless videos, all very long and tons of content. this is fantastic, thanks
5:00 It is amazing how quickly things can go from really good to really bad. I've seen it happen in less than a second.
Fascinating as always. Invaluable historical documentation.
You can tell this moment was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Very hard for him to talk about it, poor guy. A tough job and a national hero
I remember when this happened. My dad was on B-1 CTF at the time at ED. Was a sad day/week/month for sure.
Amazing information and unbiased honest analysis. It’d be amazing to hear from other individuals involved in test mishaps, like the X31 etc.
great subjet... Thanks ! Well done !
I wonder why low speed data collection was done at such a low altitude at least until they had more data on how the plane handles in those areas. This poor man no doubt relives this everyday. We’re all human and these things will sadly happen and they did the best they could and like he himself said, he made certain they learned from it.
If you ever have the luxury of hearing one of these take off you will be thoroughly impressed. It would always set at least 1 or 2 car alarms off.
Warning Fatigue is key element in most "pilot error". The aircraft becomes the boy who cried wolf. If every movement of a parameter triggers a warning then of course over time the pilot will be conditioned to ignore the warning. I am movingmore to the position that 99% of "pilot error" could be resolved with better aircraft cockpit and systems design that accounted for human factor.
Wow, I know where I want to retire!
Greetings from Brazil
The B1 is now a death trap. I went up on one at Dyess back in 87. Amazing.
I wonder if a place like Pancho's had existed at that time, would there have been a discussion about this? 1:06:53
Another great speaker, as always. One question I asked myself was, if insufficient airspeed was the cause of the crash, why didn't the pilot push the throttles forward?
Insufficient speed wasn't cause of the crash. Incorrect Centre of Gravity for the commanded wingsweep put the aircraft in an unstable area of the flight envelope. Once that pitch up happens the aircraft becomes divergent (the more it pitches up, the more it wants to pitch up, vicious cycle) and by that point you're really a passenger to the scene of the accident. No amount of thrust or flying skill is going to bring an aircraft thats 20+% beyond the aft CG limit back under control, specially not within the 4000ish feet they had to play with.
@@bend1483 Plus they didn't have any time to throttle up once they pitched up.
Very interesting!
Could the F 111 go just as low at much high speed?
The F-111 was MUCH faster than the B-1. Actually, one of the fastest planes on the deck AND at altitude. The F-111 could hit Mach 1.2+ at low altitude and probably go faster but as I understand it they had a temperature gauge to tell the pilot when to slow down but it was a difficult plane to chase down in clean (no external stores) condition. At low altitude, a B-1B can hit Mach 0.92-0.95 but isn't designed to go supersonic at low level. It can hold that speed at low altitude for 1700 miles or no which is a FAR longer range than any fighter than could be vectored at it. Many fighters STILL have issues with going supersonic at low altitude and they come across hard technical limitations -- oh, there are stories about some planes that AREN'T "the end all" in every situation like some people would have you believe. There's a combination of inlet and engine issues that DO limit the speeds of some planes dramatically depending on the situation.
At altitude (33,000-36,000 ft), a clean F-model (the most powerful F-111 built) could achieve Mach 2.73 ... They just spilled the beans on its ultimate speed since the type will NEVER go back into service or ever fly again in American or Australian service. The planes have been grounded for good but you can still visit them in museums in the UK, Australia, or the US.
Was a B-1 ever configure with all 3 bomb bay rotary launchers loaded with live nuclear tipped cruise missiles?
Definitely. That's how the 509th flew them until the end of the Cold War, unless they had a conventional mission. As it was explained to me, the more common load was two RLs with extra fuel tanks in the third bay. In DEFCON 2, though, all three bay's were hot.
10:30 merely simulating flutter/aero loads instead of testing them out like this really spooks me in regards to modern aircraft
Hi Otto !
Monday morning q/b. Who throttled up
So... Benefield cause his own death because he didn't operate the FCGMS correctly?
Yeah, basically.
Top Notch!
SRB seems superfluous
The Bone was a troubled aircraft from the beginning. A LOT of politics involved to go along with its arrogance problems. The curtain came down and it lost its mission. Now I hear that Boeing is considering turning it into a supersonic gunship. I also hear that their readiness numbers are not good. A beautiful aircraft that seems to have born under a bad sign.
Should information like this really be made available publicly? This is a lot of knowledge foreign governments love to have and study.
Absolutely nothing they don't already know.