B-1B finally ferried after fire and seat issues.

[Ghost from above]

Dyess B-1 that made emergency landing following a fire followed by a missfire on the ejection seat has finally flown to Tinker with a reserve crew.It was sat at Midland International Air and Space port since May 1st whilst essential repairs were carried out.
The number 3 engine was removed and the hatch replaced from the incident and the ejection seats fixed.Gear had to stay down and wings swept forward to avoid hydraulic issues.Intresting photo of ferry crew showing the missing engine.
Apparently not the first time this has happened.In 2007
A bone routed through Fairfiord from Afghanistan with a similar engine removal.
full article
https://theaviationist.com/2018/10/26/d ... 4-engines/

[mushbuster]

A bone (86-0133 also from Dyess) did indeed route to Fairford in October 07 with 3 engines fitted, photo of it just about to land (scroll down a little) http://www.touchdown-aviation.com/days- ... ?year=2007 and after landing here https://www.flickr.com/photos/n48284/10 ... otostream/. It arrived a couple of months after a major engine fire and forced landing at Kandahar and left Fairford a few months later with 4 engines fitted.

[Seahornet1]

Having the gear down for 400 miles from Midland International to Tinker AFB is one thing, but I'm guessing they must have cleaned up between Kandahar and Fairford, even if they left the wings fully forward...? I must admit, I hadn't realised that an engine could be on the 'not required for flight' list!

[ArabJazzie]

Having the gear down for 400 miles from Midland International to Tinker AFB is one thing, but I'm guessing they must have cleaned up between Kandahar and Fairford, even if they left the wings fully forward...? I must admit, I hadn't realised that an engine could be on the 'not required for flight' list!

I think there has been some occurrences where the likes of a Jumbo has crossed the Atlantic with the gear down after a retraction failure. When you take away the payload, the weight of the engine and possibly less fuel burn, i think a B-1 could fly to Fairford gear down.

[jem60]

In the history of aviation, there have undoubtedly been quite a few 3 engine ferries. Indeed, I have a 'photo of a Lockheed Constellation being ferried, minus an engine, with a fairing to make it less draggy. Difficult to surmise over the B.1, because we don't have the required numbers [weight, height flown, limiting speed, temperature etc] but the people at the sharp end would have certainly done the math. If it were possible non- stop and practical, then it would be done. If not they would have stopped somewhere......

[Ghost from above]

For the second time in a year the entire B-1B fleet grounded for ejection seat issues. Issue is with the rigging of the drogue chute. As issue is sorted they will return to flight readiness.

Full article here
https://ktxs.com/news/abilene/air-force ... XtoDr2JXIQ