B-52 Bomber's Engine Drops From Plane Over North Dakota

A B-52 bomber dropped an engine, one of its eight, over a river in a rural area of North Dakota on Wednesday during a training mission, but the plane was landed safely by the crew.

The Air Force believes the engine failed, then disintegrated as it dropped out of the bomber. No weapons were on board the bomber when the incident took place about 25 miles from Minot Air Force Base, according to The Associated Press.

The engine dropped into a river bed at Clark Salyer National Wildlife refuge. No animals or people were hurt from the falling engine or debris in the unpopulated area.

No other incidents of an engine dropping from a B-52 bomber are known, and officials have indicated it was a one-time occurrence, not part of any pattern, the AP said.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the Air Force would like to recover the engine in order to better understand what happened. James also said that the incident will be “fully investigated” over the next several months, the AP reported.

Upham resident Dom Christianson said it had been an “average day until about noon when we had helicopters flying over town and flying really low out across the refuge out here. It went on for about four hours,” KXMC News reported.

Air Force personnel met with Fish and Game personnel Thursday to make a plan to recover the B-52 bomber's engine. There is an estimated 1 to 2 feet of snow covering the mile or so they will have to hike to reach the location of the engine debris, according to KXMC.

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