Look, Up In The Sky: NUKES!
Heads are about to roll in the U.S. Air Force thanks to a gaffe involving the transport of six nuclear warheads on a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana last week.
The warheads should have been removed from the missiles before they were attached to the B-52 bomber, according to military officials.
The crew was unaware that the plane was carrying nuclear weapons, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the extraordinary sensitivity and security surrounding the case.
The mistake was discovered after the plane’s flight to Louisiana.
I don’t know about you, but it makes me doubly nervous to think that the flight crew had no idea what they were transporting. When it comes to nuclear warheads, one would think the controls were a bit more stringent… say, that people had to sign off on the cargo list and maybe even follow some heightened security measures?
Not surprisingly, the Air Force is responding with investigations and the President has been briefed on the situation. All fighter and bomber flights will be halted on September 14 to allow for investigation. Yeah, that makes sense: let’s give ‘em a whole week to continue screwing up then investigate.
Meanwhile, the very same folks who made that brilliant decision also want to assure the U.S. population that they were never at risk since the warheads weren’t armed and they “believe” that even if the flight had crashed or the missiles had somehow fallen off the airplane’s wings the warheads would most likely have not detonated (although the conventional material within the warhead might have gone off).
Everybody feeling better now?
No?
Me, either.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
When the Nuclear Power or No Nuclear Power debate was going on my answer was “Nuclear Power is a good idea but I’m not sure we know how to do it safely yet.” It seems the same goes for nuclear weapons.
THUD! The thought makes me feel light-headed.
Man, this would make a good movie. By the way “missals”? Were they carrying religious tracts along with the nuclear missles. By the way, part 2, why does your comment spell-checker hang on the word “missles”???
Heh…because it’s spelled “missiles”…damn eyesight
Rassin’ frassin’ spell-checker.
The USAF used to fly “special weapons” around all the time and have had a number of Broken Arrows and Bent Spears as a result. None of those resulted in nuclear detonation (obviously) and the contamination from damaged weapon cores has been minimal (IMO). They stopped doing that after a 1968 crash of a B-52 carrying 4 H-bombs. Modern US weapons are pretty safe. I believe there is only a single case of a special weapon being accidentally dropped and in that case the nuclear core was not installed. Also I don’t believe that we have had a B-52 crash since 1994.
The story linked does not explicitly say the cruise missiles were carried under wing and since there were only 6 it is more likely that they were carried in the weapons bay but I could be wrong.
My SAC father tells an interesting story of what they had to go through to get their B-47s and weapons back home to Topeka after the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also has a story of a B-36 practicing bomb dropping procedures while en route to the bomb range accidentally dropping their ground power cart (sort of a large generator on a trailer) on Oklahoma City or some such place (oops).
In the early 1980’s I worked at the plant where these cruise missiles were built. Every so often we would get notices to look for some piece of equipment that had been misplaced. My favorite was a notice to look for a missing (empty) shipping crate marked “contents one air launched cruise missile”.
o_O Just only a mistake…. with nuclear weapons. I realy do not like such mistakes…. Next time the say ooohps sorry I push the red bottom and not the yellow one.
Mistake? Were these things not tagged in some fashion that would let the ground crew who loaded them know what they were handling and the flight crew know what they were carrying? That’s insane!
of course they were marked. most likely.
but the crews move those things. so they most likely didn’t bat too much of an eye to transport them. it’s at the receiving station, when nobody was ready to receive them (and sign for them) that the questions started.
I’m pretty certain the part that says “THE CREW WAS UNAWARE THE PLANE WAS CARRYING NUCLEAR MATERIALS” meant that, well, the crew was unaware that the plane was carrying nuclear materials.
Sheesh.
Just looking at the overland route from ND to LA is enough to give me the willies.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=.....5&om=1
ya know, yeah it was one of those ” oh my god, what have we done” moments. but to the ones complaining that the AF isn’t doing their job serve in the military? i live like 3 minutes from BAFB where my husband has been serving for the past 9 years and i agree, i drive past those things all the time. but ya know, if you are going to let something like this scary you all then try joining the Af and having to work on them. and just so you know, they do not go boom just as easy as you all think. how about doing some research before complaining. I am proud AF wife and despise anyone that wants to complain about our military but is too chicken to join themselves.
What an insult by Glenn Beck about his stating SD has about ten people so it was no big deal about the plane carrying nuclear warheads from ND to LA went over SD. Ellsworth Air Force Base is in Rapid City.
I guess it is no big deal that eastern SD has rich farm land and our largest city is Sioux Falls. Try saying SD has ten people or less during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally during the annual event in Sturgis SD. I don’t believe Glenn Beck would know if Mount Rushmore is in SD or ND. What an insult to SD.
I didn’t catch King’s spiel on the matter (I try my best not to watch him), but I have to agree. South Dakota is a wonderful state that too few people take the opportunity to explore.
It’s one that our family has returned to three out of the past four years on our summer vacation, where we make a point of lingering Mammoth Hot Springs and exploring the Black Hills forest.
Not to mention that SD remains our nation’s foremost archaeological sites and contains some of the world’s richest fossil beds.
It was not King that made the statement. It was Glenn Beck. Thank you for your great comments on SD.