Bud Holland

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For other persons named Arthur Holland, see Arthur Holland (disambiguation).

Yakima on March 10, 1994

Lt Col Arthur A. "Bud" Holland (d. June 24, 1994) from Suffolk, VA was an aviator who served as a B-52 pilot in the United States Air Force. His actions between May 1991 and June 1994 would foreshadow the end of his life, as well as the lives of his three crew members, when the B-52 he was piloting crashed and burned during the rehearsal for an airshow.

1 Aerial history and reputation
2 Events
3 Final flight
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Aerial history and reputation

Lt Col Holland began flying in March of 1971 and by the end of his career he had over 5200 hours of flying time. He was an experienced instructor pilot and had served with SAC. Many considered him to be the best B-52 pilot in the fleet. At the time of his death Holland was Chief of the 92d Bombardment Wing Standardization and Evaluation Section at Fairchild Air Force Base, which made him responsible for the knowledge and enforcement of academic and in-flight standards for the wing's flying operations.

[edit] Events

From 1991 to 1994 many significant events occurred which characterized Lt Col Holland's objectivity for the regulations of the Air Force in relation to flying procedures. B-52 pilots are required to follow Tech Order 1B-52G-1-11, or the Dash 11, which states all the capabilities and limitations of the aircraft.

May 19, 1991

Fairchild Air Force Base held an airshow and Lt Col Holland was aircraft commander of the exhibition. During the event, he exceeded the B-52's banking and pitch limits. He also flew directly over the crowd which is a violation of FAR (Federal Aviation Regulation) Part 91 policy. Though both his commanders were present and realized the violations, nothing was done.

July 12, 1991

A change of command ceremony took place and Lt Col Holland was aircraft commander. Lt Col Holland performed the same maneuvers as he did during the air show except now he accomplished a "wingover", where the pilot rolls the aircraft onto its side and allows the nose of the aircraft to fall towards the Earth to regain speed. Damage can occur during this maneuver. This time his commanders realized this was setting a bad example for the younger B-52 crews, yet it is unknown whether Lt Col Holland was punished.

May 17, 1992

During the airshow Lt Col Holland exceeded the recommended bank angles and performed a flyby down the runway. At the end of the pass he completed a high pitch angle climb, or pitch-up, at about 60 degrees nose high, and leveled off with a wingover. Though it is known Lt Col Holland was verbally reprimanded, there is no documentation.

April 14-15, 1993

This time Lt Col Holland was mission commander of a two aircraft exercise to bomb ranges in the South Pacific. During GLOBAL POWER, Lt Col Holland permitted his crew members to photograph his wingman at close visual formation, as well as allowing one of his crew to film live munitions being released from the B-52. Both acts disregarded regulations. During this episode, the leadership both encouraged and discouraged Lt Col Holland to act in the way he did. There was no disciplinary action taken.

August 8, 1993

The 1993 Fairchild B-52 exhibition commander was Lt Col Holland. Banking and pitch angles were exceeded and he almost got the aircraft at a complete 90 degree angle, nearly vertical. By this time many younger pilots wished to emulate the Lt Col. At least two incidents occurred where less experienced pilots attempted to imitate Lt Col Holland with a pitch-up and a fly-by at 60 degrees, both were successful. Lt Col Holland was not disciplined.

March 10, 1994

This day Lt Col Holland flew practice munitions to a range in Yakima. An authorized film crew recorded the event. He was taped flying within 30 feet of the ground and during another pass prompted the film crew to duck for cover. During one of these passes the aircraft would most likely have crashed if the co-pilot Capt Jones had not intervened. After the mission Capt Jones stated he would not fly again with Lt Col Holland to the squadron commander Lt Col McGeehan, who then recommended Lt Col Holland be grounded. Lt Col Holland was never grounded. These events prompted Lt Col McGeehan to make the decision restricting his crews from flying with Lt Col Holland unless he was in the aircraft. Lt Col Holland was upset by the fact Lt Col McGeehan had attempted to have him grounded. Holland verbally confronted McGeehan by stating he did not respect him as a man, commander, or pilot.

June 17, 1994

Lt Col Holland flew the practice route in his B-52 in preparation for the upcoming airshow. He exceeded pitch and bank restrictions. His commander witnessed the display and concluded it was all within Air Force parameters. During the briefing for the show a few days earlier Lt Col Holland had stated that he would perform another wingover and no one objected. By this time Lt Col Holland's actions had polarized the air crews, many refused to fly with him. Also, the B-52 Wing was being dismantled at Fairchild so this airshow may have been the last one.

[edit] Final flight

Further information: B-52 aircraft crash at Fairchild Air Force Base

On June 24, 1994 a second airshow practice took place. Upon preparing to land at the end of the practice airshow profile, the crew was required to execute a "go around" or missed approach because of another aircraft on the runway. At mid-field the aircraft began a tight 360 degree left turn around the control tower at only 250 feet altitude. Approximately three quarters of the way through the turn the aircraft banked past 90 degrees, stalled, clipped a power line with the left wing and impacted the ground.