Tuesday, September 23, 1997
Dyess focuses on safety during Air Force stand-down
By BETH HALLMARK Staff Writer
The skies over Abilene were quiet Monday as Dyess Air Force
Base grounded its planes during a one-day service-wide suspension
of training flights.
Dyess personnel spent the day reviewing air safety issues and
trying to determine what lessons could be learned from a recent
series of military air crashes.
The string of crashes began Sept. 13 when an Air Force C-141
transport crashed off the coast of Africa. Four other U.S. military
air crashes in the next three days prompted the Pentagon last
week to order the first-ever military-wide halt to training flights,
with each service choosing the day it would stand-down to focus
on air safety.
The Air Force had planned to participate this Friday, but a
fatal B-1 bomber crash in Montana last week led Air Force officials
to reschedule the safety review for Monday.
At Dyess, the review began with large group meetings to discuss
safety concerns. Individual squadrons and groups also met to address
specific safety issues.
"For about four hours we talked one-on-one with the air
crews," said Maj. Dave Cardwell, 7th Bomb Wing chief of safety.
"We said, 'This is what we know about the incidents that
have happened over the past several days and here are some of
the things that have happened here at Dyess - how can we do things
better?' "
Spending a full day discussing safety is not unusual at the
base. Safety days are held twice a year, Cardwell said. Even before
the recent spate of accidents, Dyess had tentatively scheduled
a safety day for the end of this month.
"Safety is one of those things people don't usually concern
themselves with until something happens," he said. "And
it's true, you don't think about safety until you have a loss
of life or somebody breaks an airplane or crashes it.
"What we're trying to do is let people know now is the
time to start thinking about safety," Cardwell said.
Since February, Dyess has been implementing an operational
risk management program designed to assess risks and prevent accidents.
Dyess' flight-related mishaps are down slightly from last year,
Cardwell said.
And despite the rash of crashes last week, the Air Force's
overall safety record for the past year has been one of its best
ever.
The most recent crash involved a B-1 from Ellsworth Air Force
Base in South Dakota. The plane went down during a training mission
in Montana on Friday afternoon. None of the four crew members
survived.
Dyess, which trains all B-1 flight crews, will hold a memorial
service for the crew at 11 a.m. today in the base chapel. The
crew - Col. Anthony Beat, Maj. Clay Culver, Maj. Kirk Cakerice
and Capt. Gary Everett - had been stationed at Dyess in the past.
Beat served as Dyess' 7th operations group commander before being
transferred to Ellsworth one year ago.
"Our hearts certainly go out to the families of those
that perished in all the accidents that have occurred," said
Brig. Gen. Michael McMahan, 7th Bomb Wing Commander.
However, McMahan said the mood at Dyess remains positive.
"We are focused on our goal of improving safety,"
he said. "Our job is inherently dangerous. I wish I could
tell you this is the last accident (the Air Force) will ever have,
but it isn't.
"We try to find out what the root cause is of any accident
and then attack that to minimize the risk and maximize operational
capability."
Friday's B-1 crash happened less than a week after five other
military air crashes took place. In addition to the Sept. 13 C-141
crash, an F-117A stealth fighter broke up in flight at an air
show in Maryland on Sept. 14. The day after that a Navy F-18 went
down in Oman, and a Marine Corps F-18 crashed off North Carolina.
Also, two planes from the New Jersey Air National Guard collided
off the New Jersey coast last Tuesday.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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