Air Force Hush Job Skips Accountability

Divide $7,500 by four lost lives and don’t count the plane. That’s how seriously the U.S. Air Force takes the hot-dogging that caused a B-52 to crash near a nuclear weapons storage area outside Spokane.

Col. William Pellerin, fall guy for last June’s crash at Fairchild Air Force Base, will forfeit $1,500 per month for five months and be given a written reprimand.

Pellerin had recommended approval of a flight plan that caused the crash. The plan called for a B-52 crew to practice stunts violating Air Force safety regulations. Why? To amaze the public at an upcoming air show.

But the key responsibility wasn’t Pellerin’s. Wing commander Col. William Brooks approved the flight plan - and had watched previous practices of the fatal maneuvers.

Some Fairchild personnel had made complaints about reckless piloting by Lt. Col. Bud Holland, who drove the B-52 into the ground. But commanders didn’t rein him in. Instead, the base granted him the awe that juveniles accord a renegade who lays rubber in the high school parking lot. Personnel gathered to watch his stunts, videotaping and exclaiming like schoolgirls.

B-52s may be as old as ‘57 Chevys, but a bomber base is not a drag strip. Brooks was responsible for Fairchild’s culture and the safety of its crews. As a commander in peacetime, he was expected to apply the restraining wisdom of experience. He didn’t.

Rank does have its privileges. One is the honor of accountability.

But the Air Force let Brooks escape accountability. It sent a dishonorable, demoralizing message to its rank and file: When things go well, commanders get the glory. When things go badly, underlings get the blame - yet nothing stern enough to signify a wish for change.

Not only did the Air Force prevent an embarrassing trial by granting Pellerin a plea bargain, but it also flew participants in the court-martial to Arizona and announced the surprise proceeding mere hours before it occurred.

But it’s impossible to hide a crashed bomber and four dead officers. It’s impossible to hide the fact - though Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall tried - that these deaths occurred on the altar of public relations.

We have seen this before, and we are sick of it. In March 1987 at Fairchild, a KC-135 crashed and killed seven, also during practice for an air show.

By keeping secret its safety investigation into the latest crash, the Air Force adds to the stench.

Another report, by former Air Force safety official Alan Diehl, calls this hush job typical. Typical - and costly. Hush jobs mean lessons won’t be learned, unnecessary risk-taking won’t be stopped and talented personnel will continue to die.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board