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| Science & Technology |
| Investigators Blame Moisture for B-2 Crash, Release Video |
| 2008-06-07 |
| The military has released gripping video footage of a February B-2 bomber crash in Guam that the Air Force has concluded was caused by moisture. The crash was caused by distorted data in the aircraft's flight control computers, according to a report released Thursday. Air Force investigators blame the distortion on moisture in the system, which caused the computers to calculate the wrong airspeed. Click here for video of the B-2 crash. The pilot and co-pilot ejected and survived the Feb. 23 crash. The footage released by the Air Force shows the left wing grazing the runway on takeoff, causing the aircraft to burst into flames. Just prior to the crash, the plane made an sudden nose-up move that investigators concluded was caused by the computer malfunction, which then caused the B-2 to stall. It marked the first crash of a B-2, one of the Air Force's most expensive and sophisticated aircraft. There had been only 21 B-2 bombers in use, and the estimated cost of the lost aircraft is $1.4 billion. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #6 My Turn as an Expert: The B-2 in this video appeared to rotate to early... And as everyone knows that is a big No-No. Now I must admit that I never seen a B-2 successfully rotate from this angle and fly before but HEY...what's that gotta do with the price of rotating potatoes??? Hey you fucking expert, you used three question marks!!! |
| Posted by: RD 2008-06-07 13:14 |
| #5 I'm gonna make a W.A.G. here and note that distorted data implies to me that a sensor or sensors were feeding incorrect data to the flight computers. They reacted to the bad data and caused the crash. I would further guess that some of these sensors must me exposed to the environment to do their jobs and are thus in danger of moisture exposure/over exposure. I'm thinking atmospheric pressure sensors and airspeed sensors. Again, just a W. A. G. |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2008-06-07 12:08 |
| #4 the more sophisticated, the more brittle. One tiny fault can bring the whole thing down. As it did in this case. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-06-07 10:58 |
| #3 I hope this is not true. Historically, flight electronics modules are hermetically packaged because this type damage has been known since WWII. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2008-06-07 10:43 |
| #2 Fly by wire, die by wire. All modern aircraft are as controllable in flight as a brick without computers. It's possible even a manual override wouldn't have helped here... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-06-07 10:02 |
| #1 What a way to end your carreer. Flush a $1.2 Billion plane. Even if it was not in any way their fault, the zero-defects mentality will ensure that their carreers are over. |
| Posted by: N guard 2008-06-07 08:30 |