On Sept. 14, flight lines will be quiet at Air Combat Command bases. The entire command (about 100,000 active-duty airmen) is standing down training flights and many other operations as part of a command-wide safety day.
airforcetimes reports that Gen. Ronald Keys ordered the Sept. 14 safety stand-down in the wake of the Aug. 30 nuclear incident at Minot Air Force Base, where six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads were loaded onto a B-52H and then flown to Barksdale Air Force Base, without anyone on the ground or bomber knowing the nuclear weapons were on the plane.
Command spokesman Maj. Tom Crosson said that wing commanders would determine how their units review operations and safety procedures and checklists.
Keys apparently takes the lapse of regulations at Minot very seriously and this safety stand-down is the first command-wide safety day in recent memory. In the past, the command has singled out specific types of aircraft for safety days. In 1997 the Department of Defense held a department-wide safety review day.
Interesting news. But how vulnerable does this leave the country? Some "conspiracy theorists" might be very suspicious of this given recent events and the recent Osama video.
