by Phil
14. July 2009 23:49
At about 10 p.m. local time on May 8, 2006, a 7th Bomb Wing B-1B Lancer based at Dyess AFB, Texas , made a wheels-up belly landing on runway 31 at Diego Garcia, skidding 7,500 feet down the runway.
The aircraft was landing at the end of an 11 hour ferry mission that started at Andersen AFB , Guam . During the landing, the B-1B caught fire and emergency crews extinguished the flames. The four-person aircrew escaped from the plane through the overhead escape hatch. The aircraft was finally removed from the runway 4 days later.
The Air Force Accident Investigation concluded the pilots forgot to lower the landing gear. The USAF estimated the damage to the B-1B at $7.9 million, and the damage to the runway at $14,025.