Today in History – August 29, 1984 – Rockwell B-1 Lancer pilot killed on test flight

29 August 1984 – The second prototype of the Rockwell B-1A Lancer, 74-0159, at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, California, crashed 22 miles NE of the base, in the desert East of Boron, California.

Control was lost during an aft center of gravity test. The flight commander, Rockwell test pilot Doug A. Benefield, is killed when his escape pod parachutes fail to fully deploy and the module impacted in a right nose-low attitude. The Co-pilot and flight test engineer are badly injured. (1)

Source: Wikipedia/Portal:Aviation

 

 

Scroll to Top