Full Press Conference Discussing B-52 Crash at Edwards AFB

[0:00] Thank you all for coming out here today. Obviously a very sad day. With me today is Colonel James Hayes, H-A-Y-E-S. [0:11] He is the Deputy Commander of the 412th Test Wing, which is the host unit here at Edwards Air Force Base and responsible for Plant 42. [0:21] Accompany Colonel Hayes today is our Command Chief Master Sergeant, Chief Josh Skarlocken as well. [0:32] He's got a brief statement and will then entertain questions. [0:36] I ask, please, when you ask questions, please identify who you are with. That would be appreciated. [0:43] I'll tell you all up front, and you probably have a sense, there's not a whole lot of information that we can provide, [0:49] but Colonel Hayes will take some questions and answers afterwards to help you out as much as we can. [0:58] Thank you very much. Colonel Hayes. [1:02] Thank you, Mike, and thank you all for coming. [1:04] Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans. [1:10] This crash is deemed to be unsurvivable, and right now our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their loved ones. [1:19] We're sending teams out to notify the next of kin right now as we speak, [1:24] and those next of kin notifications will take place over the coming hours and remainder of the day. [1:30] It was a B-52 that was on initial takeoff, supporting the radar modernization program, which is a test, it was a local test sortie. [1:39] It took off, and immediately after takeoff, crashed and burst into flames. [1:45] Our team of first responders snapped into action and immediately cordoned off the area and took the appropriate action to start putting out the flames. [1:58] While that was taking place, our base responded in kind to establish an emergency operations center and a wing operations center [2:07] to ensure that the command and control of all base agencies and the response for the recovery effort was underway. [2:14] After reviewing the footage of the crash, it was deemed that this was an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable. [2:24] At that point, we went into the notification process, and as I said before, that's taking place right now. [2:30] I want to reiterate that our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members. [2:35] This is a tragedy, and this is going to be the worst days of their lives. [2:39] We understand that, and we want to keep them in our thoughts and prayers. [2:43] At this point, we don't have any indication as to what the cause was of this. [2:49] We won't be able to release that information, and we don't have an ability to get that anytime soon. [2:56] Right now, we're going to stand up an interim safety board to do the initial gathering of the facts, [3:01] and that will then lead to a safety investigation board, which will look into those root causes. [3:06] Once that's complete, it takes about 30 days, then it will go into an accident investigation board, [3:12] and then that will determine all of the information that we can release to the public and to the next of kin. [3:17] That process can take upwards of six months, so we have to wait patiently while that process undergoes [3:26] to ensure that we respect the process of doing full root cause analysis. [3:31] At this time, I want to introduce my command chief, Chief Josh Scarlocken, to provide any words if you would like to. [3:41] Again, we wish absolute condolences for the family members, and again, thank our first responders who responded very bravely. [3:48] Again, this is a tragedy. [3:50] It's something that we never planned for, but we're always prepared for to respond, [3:53] and we thank those involved as we work through this process. [3:56] I'll now open it up for questions. [4:08] Sam, was it? [4:08] Yes. [4:09] Yeah, thank you for that question. [4:10] This was a mixed crew. [4:11] This was a mixed crew of military, government civilians, and government contractors supporting this test mission. [4:19] Thank you for that question. [4:20] Appreciate it. [4:23] No, we don't have the profile or any of that. [4:26] It was a local test mission that was in execution according to their test plan. [4:32] That will be made public later. [4:34] We can't talk about any of the details of the specifics of the aircraft. [4:43] All of that's going to be analyzed by the Accident Investigation Board, and that information will come out after that. [4:53] The crash was totally contained within Edwards Air Force Base on the runway. [5:10] I appreciate that question. [5:11] Right now, we're doing next-to-kind notifications, and we don't want to release any information about who these individuals are until their families know about it. [5:19] We'll have that information 24 hours after next-to-kind notification takes place. [5:23] I can't speak to the specifics of when that happened. [5:37] I don't have that information available to me. [5:40] It hasn't been within the last three years since I've been here. [5:51] Absolutely. [5:51] Our test missions take place every day, multiple times a day. [5:54] That's correct. [6:09] Yes, ma'am. [6:09] So the initial response is to ensure that we can get the fire out and that we cordon it off and make it a safe area for everybody, all of our first responders and anybody that might be coming up to the crash site. [6:21] So that has already undergone. [6:23] Now it is a recovery operation. [6:32] Again, we're not going to release any specifics as to the makeup of the crew. [6:35] I can just say at this time that it was a mixed crew of government civilians, government contractors, and uniformed military. [6:41] We'll have those details after we have next-of-kin notification. [6:50] No. [6:58] Again, those details will come out over the next several weeks after we have the investigation to release those public records. [7:05] It was tragic and unsurvivable is where I'll leave it. [7:17] Is the base open for visitors, civilians, workers? [7:23] Yes, we did reopen the ability for individuals to come on base. [7:27] You have cut off the ground. [7:33] That's correct. [7:34] Do you know what black box has been there yet? [7:38] Again, that's the recovery operation that's undergoing. [7:41] They'll do everything they can to find that information. [7:43] And then that will be used by the Safety Investigation Board to determine root cause. [7:55] Tomorrow we're terminating operations while we undergo this, mainly because of the runway itself. [8:06] And we'll eventually get back to full operations and execute. [8:11] We'll obviously internalize any of the whatever information we can from this. [8:17] But at this point, yes, we are standing down operations tomorrow. [8:30] That's a great question. [8:31] I'm sorry, what was your name one more time? [8:32] Thank you, Raymond. [8:34] Yes, this is an Air Force-run operation. [8:36] So we have all the processes that I've just laid out is going to be entirely Air Force. [8:41] I don't have those details at this time. [8:55] Ladies and gentlemen, again, thank you for coming out here today. [9:05] And we appreciate the sympathy that you're all expressing and helping us express to our internal and external communities. [9:15] To your right, as a group of public affairs people, they honestly will not be able to provide much more, if anything, than Colonel Hayes and Chief Scarlocken have today. [9:27] But if you would like to follow up with them, they're available to you. [9:30] Thank you very much. [9:31] I don't want to speak to anything until we have the next-to-kind notification. [9:45] I'm sorry. [9:46] Thank you. [9:50] We're grounding all operations at Edwards Air Force Base, not any larger than that.