OUCHOUCHOUCH wheels-up B1 landing

I have several questions..
1. It was a night landing and the lights are or appear to be on the gear
legs, are no light landings normal ?

The only landing lights are on the nose gear, no light landings are not
normal IN A TRAINING - PEACE TIME ENVIRONMENT. By the time they might have
realized the light was not shining on the runway... it may have been to
late. It is also possible that they were directed to do lights out langings
for operational security. Otherwise the tower might have mentioned that they
had no lights. Deigo Garcia is a staging base for operations into Iraq.

2. With the gear up and normal power settings, wouldn't the speed be
much higher?

Not that much higher.. the gear does not cause much drag.. considering the
size of the aircraft.
I'm surprised the gear horn was not blaring.. the gear/flap/slat horn goes
off at 240knts. Target approach speed and configuration will achieve proper
AOA, then follow the AOA indicators, they are up front when looking out the
window and in the field of view, not down on the panel. No HUD like a
fighter.

3 Doesn't the crew both check gear down lights? Has the USAF stopped
using tower controllers procedures, "Check gear down, cleared to land?"

It may not have been an AF tower crew, it could have been a contract tower.
A lot of services use that field for staging into IRAQ.
They still used the standard phrase when I was flying.. even with fixed
runner helicopters.
Only the stick shaking pilots can see the gear lights, the aft station crews
cannot, but they should have had a verbal from the pilots.

4. What is the chance they were doing a high speed low pass and just
got too low?

If it was a high speed low pass.. they would have slid a lot farther and the
flaps/slats would (may) not have been deployed.
Minimum approach speed for a no flap/no slat is about 210knts. Normal speed
with flaps and slats is around 150knots, actual approach speed varies
depending on landing weight. Normal speed for a low pass varies from 350knts
to 550knts. I would doubt they would be doing that after an 11 hr ferry
mission.



Obviously there was a breakdown in CRM after a long overwater flight from
Guam, and possibly staged from Dyess the previous day with a likely hood of
minimum crew rest on the layover in Guam. An 11hr mission is not too long
for us older types used to long missions, but on top of the flight from
Dyess it adds up. It does not mention when they left the States and how long
their layover was in Guam. My longest B-52 training mission was about
16hours, my longest B-1 training mission, about 10 hrs.

BT