Abstract:
A United States Air Force B-52 bomber, assigned to the Strategic Air Command and based at K.I. Sawyer Airfield in Michigan, crashed today at 1:15 A.M. while practicing "touch-and-go" landings at its base. The aircraft burst into flames. None of the crew was burned, but all suffered injuries, with one in critical condition. In recent B-52 crashes, two crewmembers were killed when their aircraft clipped a mesa in Arizona, and on February 14th of this year there were no injuries when a pilot overshot a runway in California.
Introduction:
   A B-52 bomber crashed and burst into
flames early today on a runway while practicing ``touch-and-go''
landings at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, officials said. All eight
crew members survived.
   The plane, normally equipped to carry nuclear bombs, crashed
about 1:15 a.m., said Lt. Naomi Siegal, a spokeswoman at the
Strategic Air Command installation.
   No weapons were aboard, said Lt. Col. George Peck, a spokesman
for SAC headquarters in Omaha, Neb.
   The crew was practicing landings after a seven-hour training
flight when it crashed during one of its touch-and-go approaches,
Peck said. During such maneuvers, landing gears touch the ground but
the plane doesn't land.
   All three sections of the plane burned on impact, said Senior
Airman Tim Sanders, a base spokesman. The crew members crawled or
were helped out of the front section of the aircraft, he said. They
were taken to Marquette General and base hospitals.
   Members of the crew suffered broken bones, but no one was burned,
said Capt. Paul Bicking, another Sawyer spokesman.
   Senior Airman Tim Sanders, another base spokesman, said those
aboard were Capt. Mark Hartney, 29, an aircraft commander from
Mulberry, Fla.; 1st Lt. Michael S. Debruzzi, 26, a pilot from New
Brighton, Minn.; Capt. Anthony D. Phillips, 28, a radar navigator
from Folkston, Ga.; 1st Lt. James W. Herrmann, 30, a navigator from
Sharpsville, Pa.; 1st Lt. Daniel McCarrick, 25, an electronic
warfare officer from Succasunna, N.J.; Airman 1st Class, Joseph A.
Vallie, 20, a gunner from Stephenson, Mich.; Maj. William R.
Kroeger, 52, an instructor pilot from Fountain Hills, Ariz.; and 1st
Lt. Gregory C. Smith, 26, an upgrade pilot from Henning, Minn. All
were based at Sawyer.
   Ann Parent, a spokeswoman for Marquette General Hospital, said
Hartney and Debruzzi were in fair condition, Phillips and Vallie
were in stable condition, McCarrick was in satisfactory condition
and Kroeger was in serious condition.
   Herrmann and Smith were listed in stable condition at the base
hospital, said Technical Sgt. Anita Bailey.
   Hartney was the aircraft commander, but Debruzzi also was
qualified to fly the plane, Bailey said. She did not know who was at
the controls at the time of the crash.
   ``We are counting our blessings,'' Bailey said. ``You can put
parts of a plane back together, but you cannot put people back
together.''
   The accident was classified as the most serious kind, and all
aircraft exercises at Sawyer were canceled even though runways other
than the one where the crash occurred remained open, Bailey said.
   Peck said a board of officers will investigate the accident,
adding weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash.
   Peck said it was not unusual for B-52 training missions to be out
at that hour.
   ``Crews have to be trained to fly at any time of the day or night
in any weather,'' he said.
   The eight-engine B-52, which was deployed in the early 1950s, is
the military's biggest bomber, with a wingspan of 185 feet and a
maximum takeoff weight of 488,000 pounds. The last B-52 was
commissioned in 1962.
   In other accidents involving B-52s, a bomber was damaged when a
pilot aborted a takeoff and overshot a runway at Castle Air Force
Base in central California on Feb. 11. No one was injured.
   A B-52 bomber with radar problems crashed in Arizona'a Monument
Valley in October 1984, killing two crew members, after its wings
clipped a mesa.
   The Air Force has had more trouble recently with the B-52's
successor, the B-1B bomber. Although smaller than the B-52, the B-1B
can fly at supersonic speeds and carry more bombs.
   Four B-1Bs have crashed in the four years the plane has been
flying, including two nine days apart in November. One of the $280
million B-1Bs was destroyed after smashing onto a runway at
Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., during a training flight on Nov. 17.
On Nov. 8, a B-1B crashed and burned in a field near Dyess Air Force
Base, Texas.
   No one was killed in either crash and investigators have not
disclosed what caused the accidents.
   Six crewmen died and 10 were injured Oct. 11 when an Air Force
tanker en route from K.I. Sawyer crashed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base
near Oscoda. The Air Force's investigation of the crash is
incomplete. Wurtsmith and Sawyer are Michigan's two SAC bases.
