First B2 Stealth Crash

[MadMonkey]

Here's what I heard about it:

B-2 Felled By Sensor Problem: As we reported in May, faulty readings in air data sensors caused the Feb. 23 crash of a B-2 bomber taking off from Guam, the service's accident investigation board president said June 5. Announcing the AIB's findings to reporters via teleconference, Maj. Gen. Floyd Carpenter, vice commander of 8th Air Force, said moisture got into three of the B-2's 24 air data sensors, also called pitots, which detect air pressure and derive information such as altitude. The moisture threw off the accuracy of the sensors, which then disagreed with readings taken by the other 21, and the aircraft's computers recommended a recalibration. A procedure that would have evaporated the moisture and made the recalibration more accurate--switching on heaters in the system--wasn't used, Carpenter said. However, the procedure wasn't official; it was passed from one technician to another verbally, and the airman performing the recalibration that day wasn't aware of it. Carpenter said that, when the aircraft began its takeoff roll, the faulty data fooled the bomber into thinking it was actually pitching down and going faster than its actual speed of 130 knots. To recover, it made an uncommanded pitch up of about 31 degrees, and got about 80 feet off the ground before stalling and rolling left. When the left wingtip touched the ground, the two pilots ejected, safely. Carpenter said the two pilots "acted as they should have" and dealt with the situation and some momentary cockpit warnings as they were trained to do. He also said the technician who did the calibration probably wasn't to blame because he wasn't required to know of the pitot heat procedure. The air data sensor problem had manifested just once before, in 2006, and also at Guam. But because it was so rare, the pitot heat procedure wasn't added to the technical manual. It has now been added, along with a number of additional inspections. Carpenter said the AIB saw no inherent flaw in the B-2's design or flight controls. --John A. Tirpak

[WangoTango]

	Quote: Originally Posted by exeter_acres
	global warming... caused the condensation and the overheating RX

DADGUM AL GORE!!!!! He wrecked a perfectly good bomber!!!

WT

[sweetpea]

These were friends of mine. Its not at all strange for the computer to have malfunctioned due to atmospheric issues. The planes were designed to be stored in hangars until takeoff at a less humid place than Guam. Only recently have they been asked to stage from forward locations.

I'm actually surprised the pilots waited so long.

[Tired Old Man]

Funny thing about big money aviation. Most of the Techs that work on them know of problems and issues that they are well aware how to correct, but engineeers in various departments generally refuse to listen to the operators and Techs when it comes to real working solutions. The engineeers go to the think tanks for the next year or better in an attempt to come up with a new wonder design that will get their name added to some important "design contributors list" somewhere and perhaps even address the orignal problem.

In the mean time none of the known fixes get approved, the information that would make everything safer is held in check because it's not an "approved" procedure, and airframes and people are lost. The scenario above is much more prevalent than you could ever imagine.

Looked to me like the flight crew did everything right. Glad they had such a good low altitude ejection system.

[Mister]

It was a Carbon Footprint

[BOSSIER_ROB]

I found out the hard way, too! Hitec servos and Duralite Powerboxes just don't mix. They should have used JR servos, or used Hitecs with a Smartfly power expander. Guess the Air Force will be switching to Smartfly!

[3DFreak576]

	Quote: Originally Posted by prizzy
	Like all the libs say, it was George Bush's fault.

[ferocious frankie]

Wow! I read about the stall warnings of flying wings, but this sucks. Looks like the pilots really tried to save it, but just couldn't get it done.

[reyn3545]

Come on... it was in Guam... I don't think the US Laws, (like those of electronics and physics) are applicable in Guam!

[Troy P]

I just found newly released cockpit transcripts of the crash:

Tower- "Eagle 2, you are clear for take off and rendezvous with Eagle 1"
Pilot- "Roger tower, Eagle 2 ready for takeoff. Rolling out."
Co-Pilot- "Systems check, throttles to full, monitoring stats... wait, the computer is acting up. I'll reset."
Pilot- "What does it say?"
Co-Pilot- "I don't recognize the comand prompt. It says- Snap-a-saurus Badass"
Pilot- "Why the bleep is it trying to do that"
Co-Pilot- "I'm trying to reprogram..."
Pilot- "I'm trying to hold her off... it's just not responding"
Co-Pilot "Aren't you capable of a Snap-a-saurus!?"
Pilot- "I've only heard rumors of it in training but we are not suppose to do one according to protocol"
Co-Pilot- "I'm getting the heck out of here, later..."
background noise- whoooooosh
Pilot- "Wait for me!!!"



In all seriousness I'm glad the pilots got out ok. It is a serious bummer that 1.4 billion clams just took a dirt nap but the pilots did their duty well and came home to their families ok with one heck of a story to tell.

[WangoTango]

Troy,
Good write-up on the cockpit tapes! Glad these guys got out okay and will live to tell about it. First and last to punch out of a B-2!!!
WT

[50%plane]

It's always the maintainers fault.......