Fairchild B-52 Crash Report Said To Fault Command, Pilot

SPOKANE - An Air Force investigation partly blames the crash of a B-52 bomber on a pilot who was considered so undisciplined that some crew members refused to fly with him, The Spokesman-Review reported today.

The Air Force review board concluded that Lt. Col. Arthur A. "Bud" Holland was practicing unauthorized and unsafe maneuvers when the bomber crashed June 24 at Fairchild Air Force Base, the paper said.

Holland, 46, and the other three officers aboard were killed.

Investigators also blamed base commanders for approving the maneuvers and allowing Holland to continue flying despite a three-year pattern of recklessness and "poor airmanship." Holland had been reprimanded but not removed as the base's top instructor pilot.

Air Force officials refused to comment yesterday. They scheduled a news conference today to release their findings.

One of the officers killed, Lt. Col. Mark McGeehan, had received complaints from his men about Holland and tried to have Holland grounded, McGeehan's widow said.

"He went to the senior commander and told him he did not think Col. Holland should be flying," Jodie McGeehan told The Evening Review of East Liverpool, Ohio, for a story published today. "They chose not to listen to him."