Tail mistake 'caused fatal B52 crash'
A deadly B52 bomber crash off Guam last year was caused by part of the plane's tail assembly being set in the wrong position, a US Air Force investigation report said.
The plane's stabiliser trim was improperly set between 4.5 and 5.0 degrees nose-down at impact, indicating the aircraft had been in a nose-down descent at low altitude, according to a report by the Air Combat Command in Langley, Virginia.
The stabiliser trim is used in conjunction with the aircraft's elevator to control the pitch of the aircraft.
The unarmed bomber was on a training mission that included a flyby in support of the Guam Liberation Day celebration when it crashed in July off Guam, a US territory located 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii. All six crew members on board were killed.
The report said the reason why the stabiliser trim was improperly set could not be determined because there were no survivors or emergency radio calls from the plane. Only a minimal amount of aircraft control systems or instruments were recovered.
The investigation also determined that the combination of a low altitude and a descending left turn, and the crew recognising too late the severity of the situation, contributed to the crash.
But the board said any experienced crew could have found it difficult to recognise, assess and recover from the rapidly developing situation involving the stabiliser trim setting.
The B52 was assigned to the 20th Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
