B 52 Crash Statement

[00:00:00]Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy and we lost eight great Americans. This crash is deemed to be unsurvivable and right now our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their loved ones.

[00:00:15]We're sending teams out to notify the next of kin right now as we speak and those next of kin notifications will take place over the coming hours and remainder of the day.

[00:00:26]It was a B-52 that was on initial takeoff supporting the radar modernization program which is a test it was a local test sortie. It took off and immediately after takeoff crashed and burst into flames.

[00:00:41]Our team of first responders snapped into action and immediately took cordoned off the area and took the appropriate action to start putting out the flames. While that was taking place our base responded in kind to establish an emergency operation center and a wing operation center to ensure that the command and control of all base agencies and the response for the recovery effort was underway.

[00:01:11]After reviewing the footage of the crash it was deemed that this was an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable. At that point we went into the notification process and as I said before that's taking place right now.