FIRE ON B-1B FIRE BOMBER - SERGEANTS PUT OUT BLAZE; ACTIONS SAVE AIRCRAFT, CREW

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kelly White
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  Two 379th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron master sergeants helped save four B-1B Lancer aircrew member lives and prevented the loss of the $283.1 million aircraft during its emergency landing shortly after midnight here Jan. 18.

Master Sgts. Alan Andrews and Michael Wingler, 379th EAMXS production supervisors, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., ensured the safety of the aircrew when they rushed out to aid the B-1B that had just landed and they noticed fire coming from the aircraft.

"We had just launched a jet and heard (tail number) 77 call in for landing," Andrews said. "Shortly after landing, the pilots (said they were) losing systems two and three, and that alerted us.

"System two runs brakes and steering, so the pair knew how serious the situation was as they closed in on the aircraft.

"As we approached, we noticed the number 3 tire caught fire, as well as the number 3 brake," Andrews said.

While Wingler immediately notified the maintenance operations center, Andrews called the aircrew over the radio and said, "Fire, fire, fire. Evacuate!"

Upon Andrews' warning, the pilots performed their emergency checklist and were evacuating the aircraft as the sergeants drove in front of them.

"At the parking ramp near the end of the runway, there were two fire bottles," Andrews said. "We stopped the truck, got out, grabbed the fire bottles, and ran with them for about 50 yards or so and started to extinguish the blaze."

They quickly exhausted the first fire bottle and had to use the second as well.

"In a couple of minutes, it was done," Wingler said.

However brief the encounter, Andrews said it felt like time was standing still.

Both sergeants credited their annual fire bottle use training with enabling them to react so quickly and effectively.

"We've had the training so many times, so there was really no thinking," Andrews said. "If we had thought too much about it, we may have run the other way."

While their swift actions may be attributed to conditioning through cyclic training, the sergeants said their real-world encounter was nothing either of them had experienced before.

"I was amped up," Wingler said. "The adrenaline was rushing, and I was just going and going."

They said it wasn't until they went back to their office to begin writing their after-action reports that they began to realize the true potential for disaster they had just prevented.

"She was fully loaded with bombs," Andrews said. "Normally if there'd been (even just) one bomb, we'd have established a 4,000-foot cordon, and from that point, it would have been the entire (area of the) ramp. We would have had to evacuate or take cover.

"I didn't really consider the implications of nonaction, until it was all over," the sergeant added. "We just knew we had crewmembers on board, and we absolutely wanted to make sure they were safe."

For their actions, Andrews and Wingler were awarded Air Force Commendation Medals and 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Coins of Excellence Jan. 31 during a maintenance group commander's call in front of a formation of nearly 700 fellow Airmen.

Col. Paul Schultz, the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander, said, "Their actions saved lives and aircraft. But they also allowed an asset that flies over the skies of Afghanistan or Iraq to (continue to) save lives throughout the region."