Eight Crew Killed in Deadliest B-52 Crash in Decades

ABC Affiliate KABC via REUTERSEight people have died in a shocking plane crash at a U.S. Air Force Base in California. The B-52 bomber crashed shortly after take-off at Edwards Air Force Base, north of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert, on Monday at around 11.20 a.m., killing all eight crew aboard. Aerial footage showed black smoke rising from the crash site, with almost nothing left of the aircraft. The incident marks the deadliest crash involving a B-52 bomber since 1982, according to CNN. Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 test wing at Edwards, said at a news conference that after reviewing footage of the crash, it was determined that nobody could have survived. “We lost eight great Americans,” Hayes said, adding that the Air Force was working to notify the families of the victims, who included government contractors and uniformed military. An analysis by the Washington Post found that after initially flying northeast and then turning north, the aircraft abruptly hooked northwest and began plunging at a rate of more than 5000 feet a minute. Col. Hayes said that it was not immediately clear what caused the crash, and that an investigation could take up to six months to complete. Read it at Associated PressRead more at The Daily Beast.