US Air Force Grounds Entire Fleet of B1-B Bombers Written 23 April 2021
B-1B in-flight with wings swept fully forward. | USAF; Wikipedia; Public Domain
The Daily Mail reports that Commander of the US Air Force’s Global Strike Command Gen. Tim Ryan said Tuesday that he has “ordered a safety stand-down” for the service’s entire B1-B bomber fleet. The decision “was made after a ‘ground emergency’ on April 8 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.” Engineers “discovered what defense website The War Zone said was a ‘massive hole’ in the filter housing, which was leaking a large amount of fuel.” The “site reported that the plane which sparked the concern, identified as 86-0104, had been seen trailing a large plume of unburned fuel on landing.” Ryan “confirmed in his statement that ‘a discrepancy with an Augmenter Fuel Pump Filter Housing was discovered.’”
Full Story (Daily Mail)