{"id":66817,"date":"2024-02-12T16:32:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/02\/12\/weapons-hot-lessons-and-mistakes-on-a-b-52-bomber-training-flight\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:05:51","slug":"weapons-hot-lessons-and-mistakes-on-a-b-52-bomber-training-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/02\/12\/weapons-hot-lessons-and-mistakes-on-a-b-52-bomber-training-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Weapons hot\u2019: Lessons and mistakes on a B-52 bomber training flight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ABOARD A B-52H STRATOFORTRESS \u2014 A B-52H Stratofortress\u2019 hulking gray frame<\/a> rumbles through the cloudless blue sky, closing in on targets 19,000 feet below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plane\u2019s weapon systems officer, Capt. Jonathan \u201cLoaner\u201d Newark of the 11th Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, furiously taps targeting coordinates into a computer, his face bathed in green light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers on the <\/b>screen <\/b>tick down to zero as the bomber looms over its destination. The bomb bay doors open with a whir and a thump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dWeapons hot,\u201d Newark says over a crackling intercom. He reaches to his right and flips open a small panel covering a button <\/i>designed to <\/i>let loose a 2,000-pound bomb<\/a>. \u201cBay three, releasing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of several passes, and without warning, the bomber jerks sharply upward as its student pilot, 1st Lt. Clay Hultgren, disengages the autopilot at the wrong time. Within seconds, the plane climbs past its assigned altitude limit of 20,000 feet \u2014 <\/b>where it could run afoul of other aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instructor pilot Lt. Col. Michael \u201cFredo\u201d DeVita quickly grabs the yoke and wrestles the 185,000-pound bomber back down to a proper altitude, banking hard to the left. The plane steadies and resumes course as quickly as it veered off track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No bombs <\/b>\u2014 real or fake \u2014 were aboard the B-52 during its Jan. 4 training run. But the <\/b>five-person aircrew on the flight dubbed \u201cScout 93\u2033 practiced each step in the process as if they were headed for a airstrike at war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stratofortress pilots control six-decade-old hardware with a 185-foot wingspan \u2014 and the lives of the four or five airmen onboard. But the moment the Vietnam War-era bomber\u2019s wheels leave the ground, anything can happen \u2014 and some of the most important lessons cover more than routine flight procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Capt. Jonathan “Loaner” Newark of the 11th Bomb Squadron, a B-52 weapon systems officer, prepares to conduct simulated bomb drops during a training flight out of Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Jan. 4, 2024. (Stephen Losey\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During training flights<\/a>, instructors impress upon younger lieutenants the seriousness of life and death when controlling one of the most formidable weapons of war ever built. Its crew must make calculations, down to the smallest decimal point, that ultimately determine whether the bomber strikes its intended target or innocent civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to really glue everybody together,\u201d Newark said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re all crew and we\u2019re all in charge of those weapons. We all own them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cold War plane, 21st-century training<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Hultgren aims to join a long line of pilots that stretches back to the B-52\u2032s debut in 1954. If his training goes as planned, he\u2019ll be among those in the cockpit as the fleet remains in service for decades to come<\/a>. The Air Force is now working on a series of upgrades, such as new engines<\/a>, that aim to keep the B-52 flying until about 2060.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Stratofortress barrels toward a century in operation, its missions and training for the aircrew<\/a> aboard must adapt to the digital age<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\t