-snip- The footage in this video is tame compared to some of the operational experience of Buff crews, while training against the Soviets. Buffs have never been used in this low altitude penetration role, but crews were trained in this way until SAC stood down against the USSR. This footage isn't "cowboy" as suggested. The crash at Fairchild was pilot error (roll input beyond aircraft limitations). This link has a full report on the incident, and it wasn't due to escalating cowboy behaviors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash
I am not sure whether you are refering to the top 10 or the footage of Bud Holland, so take with a grain of salt (as I am assuming the latter), also Wikipedia, IMHO, cannot be the salt of the earth in this respect:
Did you actually read the article of Maj. Kern (15 yrs U.S.A.F. pilot OPEXED/CERT on B-1B, KC-135 and T-3)?
The provided footage relies the 5 situations that he describes, each one of it is way outside the limits that were allowed by rules (notwithstanding your claim that BUFF crews were training to dodge radar low level). Wile pilot error allright, it was a foreseeable pilot error, partially a consequence of the right people hailing the wrong character for wrong actions (all highlighting by me):
The Fairchild example is worth our further analysis and contemplation, not because it was a unique aberration from what occurs in other military organizations, but rather because it is a compilation of tendencies that are seen throughout the spectrum of our operations. Many aviators report that rules and regulations are "bent" on occasion, and some individuals seem to be "Teflon coated" because their mistakes are ignored or overlooked by their supervisors. Most honest flyers will readily admit to operating under different sets of rules depending on the nature of the mission they are about to fly. For example, standard training missions are treated differently than evaluations. Likewise, higher headquarters directed missions are treated differently than inspections, or airshow demonstrations. This often leads to a confusing mental state for young or inexperienced flyers, who see ever-increasing "shades of gray" creeping into their decision-making process. This case study illustrates examples of such missions, and of aviators who felt that the rules were different for them.
It is clear here, that Maj. Kern applies different rules for different missions, and the article bases on the fact that an airshow mission is not the typical WWIII mission.
Pilot error, yes. But avoidable:
By the summer of 1994, the entire Fairchild culture was caught up in the activities of a single B-52 pilot. Red flags of warning were abundant-- and yet those who could act did not do so, in spite of recommendations to ground Bud Holland. As one B-52 crewmember said about the accident, "You could see it, hear it, feel it, and smell it coming. We were all just trying to be somewhere else when it happened."
The fact that the RHS refused to have junior RHS flying to save others (which he paid the price for dying in the mishap) says it all...:
Upon returning from the mission (that is the photo flyby in the vid, R.), the crewmembers discussed the events among themselves and came to the conclusion that they would not fly with Lt Col Holland again. Capt Jones reports, "I vowed to them that never again would they or myself be subjected to fly with him. That if it required it, I would be willing to fall on my sword to ensure that didn't happen." The next day, Captain Jones reported the events to Major Don Thompson, the squadron operations officer stating "I did not ever want to fly with Lt Col Holland again, even if it meant that I couldn't fly anymore as an Air Force pilot." Major Thompson told Captain Jones that he didn't think it would come to that, because he "was joining a group of pilots in the squadron who had also made the same statement." -snip-
Major Thompson had also already seen a video tape taken from the ground during the photography session the previous day and was aware of the severity and degree of the infractions. ...-snip- seen enough. He immediately went to the Squadron Commander, Lt Col Mark McGeehan. Major Thompson recalls, "I had an intense gut feeling that things were getting desperate ... I said 'I feel like I'm stabbing a friend in the back. I like (Lt) Col Holland but we need to remove him from flying. That Yakima flight needs to be his fini-flight.' I guess I was just trying to protect Bud Holland from Bud Holland." - snip- At the meeting, Lt Col McGeehan laid the facts on the table and made his recommendation to ground Bud Holland. - snip- The DO then called a meeting with Lt Col Holland and Lt Col McGeehan to announce his decision. He informed them both that he had reprimanded Lt Col Holland but that he had decided against any restriction on his flying. At that point, Lt Col McGeehan made a decision to restrict his crews from flying with Lt Col Holland unless he himself was in the aircraft. According to his wife "Mark said afterwards that he knew that he was not going to let (Lt) Col Holland fly with anybody else unless he was in the airplane ... that he was going to be flying whenever Bud flew." He was true to his word.
I am not saying that low level flying per se is bad, it must be trained, and gets trained. I am refering to breaking rules that we pilots all know and respect, and that are easily bent for some "hooraish" attitude not one pilot I know is free off.
This said, I have the feeling some of the top 10 flybys (and surely the French version(s)) qualify for immediate grounding of the PIC, especially when we think of what witnessing them means to young and upcoming pilots:
The crash of Czar 52, like most accidents, was part of a chain of events. -snip - However, in most aircraft mishaps, the crash is the final domino to drop in the cause and effect chain of events. In this case, however, scores of young and impressionable aviators "grew up" watching a rogue aviator as their role model for over three years. They remain on active flying status in various Air Force wings, passing along what they have learned. Because of this, the final domino in this chain of events may not yet have fallen.
Rattler
