aircraft firegeezer on 17 Jul 2008 03:21 pm
B2 Crash Photos Released
THE STILL PHOTOS OF THE B2 STEALTH Bomber crash in Guam on February 26 have just been released. It was the costliest plane crash in the Air Force’s history and the wreckage burned for 6 hours. It happened at the Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
USAF photo
Air Force Times reports:
The photos were not among the pictures released in June when Air Combat Command issued the results of an accident investigation board inquiry. The board determined the $1.4 billion jet crashed shortly after taking off because water trapped in several sensors along the nose of the B-2 led sensors to send false information to the pilots and the plane’s navigation computers.
The automated navigation system, responding to incorrect data about the plane’s speed, altitude and angle, suddenly pitched the bomber’s nose upward, causing it to lose lift and fall to the ground.
The two pilots, Maj. Ryan Link and Capt. Justin Grieve of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., safely ejected before the jet’s left wing touched the ground, sending the bomber into a fiery 2,100-foot-long slide.
Neither of the pilots were faulted for the mishap.
Popular Mechanics has the photos and a timeline graph showing what happened, as well as links to earlier reports on the crash HERE.
