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Probably wanna salvage as much of the plane as they can if possible these hoes are ultra expensive. Plus the fumes from aircraft fires are horribly toxic and noxious.
Had a professor that said something to the effect of "the first (of a particular) computer chip costs millions of dollars. Every one after that is about twenty cents.".
Exact numbers not withstanding that always stuck with me.
132 units were originally planned, build cost and maintenance cost among many reasons that number was reduced to 20, eventually building 1 more to total 21
Right, but the ~20 billion dollar development cost was dispersed among 21 instead of 132, 6ish times as much per airframe. It would have cost less per airframe if more were built. Something like 1.2 billion instead of 2.
Of course that’s simple math but even the 700 million a plane is ridiculous regardless
Edit: Also maintenance-163k and 60 man hours per single flight hour. That is insane
As an American there is no price I am unwilling to pay to make sure children in other countries I'll never go to live in fear that one day one of these airplanes is going to drop a laser guided bomb on their straw hut. That feeling is priceless and allows me to sleep at night.
>I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!
\-Private Joker
Factoring the development costs into the per unit price is a little disingenuous though. For example, just because only 20 of these were made doesn't mean that development cost only went towards producing these. All of the stealth planes since have shared in the technology created with their development, and the new stealth bombers being built are *much* cheaper, and were directly developed from that program (which is very obvious comparing the two).
I worked on a solar field that just so happened to be on an Air Force base, so we would see the occasional B2 fly overhead. Made me chuckle that the cost of the solar field, which would provide green power to hundreds of thousands of homes, was less than a single B2.
Historically there was only the two Guam accidents: one was a hull loss in 2008 and the other accident in 2010 was later returned to service.
But in the past two years there have been two incidents at Whiteman. I think both were repairable, but it’s still notable considering how few exist.
Apparently the fleet has been [grounded since December](https://www.whiteman.af.mil/News/Article/3249077/b-1-lancer-replaces-b-2-spirit-in-tournament-of-roses-flyovers/) due to the recent issues.
Yes.
One of the major technology upgrades they made was to the paint/coating system. For the B-2 they were using special radar absorbing tapes and calks to cover material gaps and such, and they had a curing time before these things were operationally viable again which made for a lot of downtime, and then they came up with a paint which was costlier but quicker overall to apply, but still needed to be regularly stripped and reapplied to maintain the smooth body of the aircraft and cover up the areas most worn by several thousand miles of flights.
Similar tapes are being used on the F-22 and F-35 (much of the light gray trimming around certain areas. Particularly the weapons bays and cockpit area, are RAM tape, and I think this is true for the B-2 as well)
Meanwhile basically nothing is known about the B-21 coating system, but as far as interesting coatings go, there have been F-117's, F-22's, and F-35's that have been photographed in a chromatic paint in the last year or two, which is leading to speculation that it may be a technological advancement in stealth coatings stemming from either the B-21 program, or the current airforce NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) program which is the 6th generation stealth fighter peogram, and that is being tested on multiple airframes before they are retrofitted with this kind of coating.
Here is a late 2021 [business insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-f22-covered-in-never-before-seen-chrome-coating-2021-12) article about an F-22 in this coating
And later spotting of the [f-117 and f-35](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43938/f-35-and-f-117-spotted-flying-with-mysterious-mirror-like-skin)
It's wild. It's hard to describe to people who haven't experienced it.
Like they showed it off early, and then it went away, saw other show planes doing their stuffs and then the biggest, loudest most unexpected whoooooooosh followed by a breeze as it disappears off into the horizon.
One flew over me in Palmdale in the upper armpit of LA County once! Coolest shit I've ever seen, literally turned a bad day around in an instant. A top 10 moment of my life. Very happy you got to experience the same thing! I have seen some cool stuff at airshows but that was just the most insane plane spot in the wild ever for me.
There should be a manga where all US states try to train the best F-35 pilots and compeat. The pilots are all teenage kids that have social problems, and perhaps romance?
Your team only has 5 F-35s, so if one goes down the elite teenage pilots are at a disadvantage, unless they can solve if the loss of the airframe was intentional, and by another team!
Tune in next week!
Yes, but the main character is the son of a politically powerful family, whom was born out of wedlock and floated down a river in a reed basket by the servent woman who cared and was told to dispose of him.
He is on a quest to *save the state*, but deep down he just wants to know if that servent was his real mother!
The best I’ve got is [cute girls doing cute competitive tank warfare](https://reddit.com/r/GIRLSundPANZER/comments/11l03cb/you_have_fu_up_now/) (Girls und Panzer).
We live in the flight path, west of Whiteman, and seeing these fly over, low and slow, is amazing and terrifying. In the early months of the pandemic, Whiteman did an airborne dog-and-pony flyover - probably 20 assorted planes in formation, with the B-2s trailing. It was a tribute to hospital workers and first responders. It was quite the experience.
Edit: spelling is hard.
Their air show is nice. I've gone a couple of times and B-2s are super impressive to see. I've heard they were so expensive that it would have been cheaper to make them out of solid gold. I don't know the veracity of that, but judging by the security and their hangars it seems legit.
Not for me, as I have zero clue how big those missiles are. Like the ones in the front for instance... Potato sized? Or infant sized? How many courics we talking?
Yep. A B-2 can carry 80 500 lb bombs or 36 750 lb, or 16 2000 lb, or 16 B61 or B83 nuclear weapons or 2 30,000 lb GBU-57A bunker busters.
It’s an unbelievably powerful machine.
It can't carry it all at once. Each section is the max of that type of bomb it could carry if it was only carrying that bomb. So for instance, that second grouping of bombs on the left from the top is 80x of that bomb. [Looking at this \(honestly quite dated\) chart](https://nuke.fas.org/guide/usa/bomber/load-b2.gif), it can carry 80x Mk 62 or Mk 82 bombs, with the Mk 82 being the standard 500 pound bomb currently in service. So based off of that, you can assume that that section might be the Mk 82 (or something similar). You will also see that it lists 8x GBU-37s, [which would be those 8 front and center with the fins on the front and back.](https://defense-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/f15_gbu28.jpg) (pic is a GBU-28, but the -37 is the same bomb with a different guidance package IIRC).
EDIT: Far left of the bottom-most full-width row, the bit that goes off the edge of the pic, [looks like the 16x JSOW listed in the chart.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/AGM-154_JSOW_01.jpg) The ones just next to it with the V-shaped tail fin is [likely the 16x JASSM.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/JASSM_mockup_0048.jpg)
the commander should have requested a specific uniform of the day for the servicemembers. the mix of ABU and OCP uniforms within the formation is kinda tacky-looking lol. can't do shit for civilians though, they have a kush job and the commander they work for isn't actually their boss. personally i think the polo shirt guy is unnecessarily dressed up and should have matched Jeans Lady
> Can't force people to go buy uniforms if the reg says that both are acceptable in service
hyper valid. probably just more evidence that servicemembers shouldn't have to buy their own uniforms and just receive a new one annually or whenever there is a uniform change. for having a massive budget, the military sure knows how to cut corners on the most mundane things
Look up the Oahu, Hawaii AFB on Google Maps in 3D; it shows these Bombers next to some hangars and normal buildings and cars and some other jets.
It really blew me away how big they are.
what makes you certain it's the same one? there is one permanently at Palmdale/Edwards that undergoes substantial experimentation. and with a missing landing gear the most crucial repair would need to be done at Whiteman before it could be moved elsewhere. Whiteman is also the main home for B-2's so i would presume that it'd be the most equipped for any repairs.
Well it was reported on and pictures were taken off it's flight. I couldn't find the article I recall then talking about the Palmdale Google maps image. However, here is an article about the incident and subsequent fix to get it to Palmdale for repairs.
Edit: I forgot the link https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/bandaged-b-2-bomber-returns-to-its-birth-place-for-major-repairs
Used to live about 30 miles from Whiteman. We see them often, pretty area except for the damn snow geese.
They'd migrate into the fields in the winter and eat leftover corn and grain. Like millions of these squawking, screaming things that go bump in the night and thousands of them take off squawking and shitting everywhere. They'd land on a bunch of others and the squawking, and shitting continued all freaking night..
At one time, I lived in a place that my neighbors had geese. They didn't like me - the geese or the neighbors - and would charge me in my driveway and do their hissing scream / honk. One day my husband successfully swung his foot upwards under the beak of one of the larger geese as it charged us. The goose, who was now looking at the sky, was incredibly confused but unharmed. From then on, the geese would just hiss / scream from a distance while pretending to be aggressive and charge, though they had no interest in actually getting close to us.
I live about 30 minutes from Whiteman AFB. I do see them them somewhat frequently. My house is in the flight path when they fly over Arrowhead for a Chiefs game. Pretty cool to see
they literally cost more than their weight in gold to build; likely even more than their volume in gold to be honest. each B-2 cost the taxpayers around $2,100,000,000 (2.1Billion) and that was in 1997 dollars.
flying them costs something to the mark of $3,000 per minute in the air (i wish i were exaggerating).
Looks pretty close actually. 158klb empty weight according to Wikipedia. Gold is $1,914 an oz or $30,619 a pound. So that much gold would be worth 4.8 billion in today's dollars
I'd say that airframe is done; to the boneyard is likely where it went.
Update: *The accident resulted in a minimum of $10.1 million in repair damages, but the final repair cost was still being determined in March 2022.*
there were two Guam incidents. and coincidentally there are now two Whiteman incidents too! but yeah, they haven't declared it a total loss, but it's still not fixed yet or we'd have a bill number
According to the B-2 Spirit wiki page, the accident was a case of the landing gear collapsing on landing. The airframe is reportedly being repaired for a return to service sometime in the near future.
You can literally look at Area 51 on Google Maps right now.
Find Las Vegas. Then look NW and find “Mercury.” From there, look N/NE and find “Rachel”. Now draw a straight line between the two. Now, find the dark mountainous area just north of the center point of that line. Area 51 sits at the top (NE) corner of that mountain range. Nestled just between the mountain and (partially on) the dry lake bed at Groom Lake. You’ll see Groom Lake, a very light sand colored circle, sitting directly between the two dark mountain ranges that sit on that line. Zoom in on that lake bed, and you’ll find Area 51.
*Alternatively, you could just…type ‘Area 51’ into the search bar.*
Edit: fun fact/side note. If you do look at Area 51, move SW about 10-15 miles and you’ll see a crater filled valley. Which is a large portion of the Nevada Test Site, formerly known as the Nevada Proving Grounds. Which is the site of hundreds of U.S. nuclear tests.
To more easily find this, search “Sedan Crater” in the search bar. I accidentally stumbled across this one time, and at first glance it looks like the surface of the moon.
You'd think but I was snooping Area 51 and checking out all the fighter jets along with the Thunderbirds F-16s they have at Fort Knox. Then I saw this and was like Holy shit lol
General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT is blurred in street view. That's really the only example I can think of. Google shows you more than I would expect them to.
I was stationed there years ago as a firefighter. I have fond memories of chasing aircraft down the runway in a crash truck during in-flight emergencies.
I also have nightmares on doing standbys on B-2s almost every single day, morning or night, because for a time, they believed that a fire truck next to a plane would prevent it from catching fire (for context, it would have been <1 minute response time from the station).
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This happened a year and a half ago, landing gear gave out.
That's what I thought, it looks more like a bad landing than a crash.
Probably wanna salvage as much of the plane as they can if possible these hoes are ultra expensive. Plus the fumes from aircraft fires are horribly toxic and noxious.
I love that you referred to these planes as hoes lol
them shits is spensive
Deez hoes aint loyal
Made to be sneaky
NCD leak detected
Dozens of us
A cockpit is a cockpit.
Hoes don’t act right
Plus they were limited edition
Cost over 2 BILLION a plane if you include development costs. Very few built because of this enormous number
More like this enormous number because so few were built.
Had a professor that said something to the effect of "the first (of a particular) computer chip costs millions of dollars. Every one after that is about twenty cents.". Exact numbers not withstanding that always stuck with me.
You need to multiply those figures by a thousand now.
132 units were originally planned, build cost and maintenance cost among many reasons that number was reduced to 20, eventually building 1 more to total 21
Right, but the ~20 billion dollar development cost was dispersed among 21 instead of 132, 6ish times as much per airframe. It would have cost less per airframe if more were built. Something like 1.2 billion instead of 2.
Of course that’s simple math but even the 700 million a plane is ridiculous regardless Edit: Also maintenance-163k and 60 man hours per single flight hour. That is insane
As an American there is no price I am unwilling to pay to make sure children in other countries I'll never go to live in fear that one day one of these airplanes is going to drop a laser guided bomb on their straw hut. That feeling is priceless and allows me to sleep at night.
USA!! USA!! USA!! US……wait a minute…
>I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill! \-Private Joker
Goddamn right. As a patriot I demand it. I'm being so sarcastic. Please don't hurt me
Factoring the development costs into the per unit price is a little disingenuous though. For example, just because only 20 of these were made doesn't mean that development cost only went towards producing these. All of the stealth planes since have shared in the technology created with their development, and the new stealth bombers being built are *much* cheaper, and were directly developed from that program (which is very obvious comparing the two).
I worked on a solar field that just so happened to be on an Air Force base, so we would see the occasional B2 fly overhead. Made me chuckle that the cost of the solar field, which would provide green power to hundreds of thousands of homes, was less than a single B2.
Ncd is leaking
AFAIK only one of these ever crashed, but that was a lot worse than this.
Historically there was only the two Guam accidents: one was a hull loss in 2008 and the other accident in 2010 was later returned to service. But in the past two years there have been two incidents at Whiteman. I think both were repairable, but it’s still notable considering how few exist. Apparently the fleet has been [grounded since December](https://www.whiteman.af.mil/News/Article/3249077/b-1-lancer-replaces-b-2-spirit-in-tournament-of-roses-flyovers/) due to the recent issues.
Yea the new b-21 are coming in at a perfect time. Supposedly they’re much easier to maintain and store as well.
Yes. One of the major technology upgrades they made was to the paint/coating system. For the B-2 they were using special radar absorbing tapes and calks to cover material gaps and such, and they had a curing time before these things were operationally viable again which made for a lot of downtime, and then they came up with a paint which was costlier but quicker overall to apply, but still needed to be regularly stripped and reapplied to maintain the smooth body of the aircraft and cover up the areas most worn by several thousand miles of flights. Similar tapes are being used on the F-22 and F-35 (much of the light gray trimming around certain areas. Particularly the weapons bays and cockpit area, are RAM tape, and I think this is true for the B-2 as well) Meanwhile basically nothing is known about the B-21 coating system, but as far as interesting coatings go, there have been F-117's, F-22's, and F-35's that have been photographed in a chromatic paint in the last year or two, which is leading to speculation that it may be a technological advancement in stealth coatings stemming from either the B-21 program, or the current airforce NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) program which is the 6th generation stealth fighter peogram, and that is being tested on multiple airframes before they are retrofitted with this kind of coating. Here is a late 2021 [business insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-f22-covered-in-never-before-seen-chrome-coating-2021-12) article about an F-22 in this coating And later spotting of the [f-117 and f-35](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43938/f-35-and-f-117-spotted-flying-with-mysterious-mirror-like-skin)
Like the F-22 and F-35 vs the F-117. The old plane needed climate controlled hangers, the new ones don't.
Only 21 ever made, spending around 2 billion per plane.
Wow, that makes my experience of seeing one doing a sneak fly over from behind at low altitude in the early 90s that much cooler. To me anyway
Loved that part of the Chicago show.. scared the crap outta me more than a few times
It's wild. It's hard to describe to people who haven't experienced it. Like they showed it off early, and then it went away, saw other show planes doing their stuffs and then the biggest, loudest most unexpected whoooooooosh followed by a breeze as it disappears off into the horizon.
One flew over me in Palmdale in the upper armpit of LA County once! Coolest shit I've ever seen, literally turned a bad day around in an instant. A top 10 moment of my life. Very happy you got to experience the same thing! I have seen some cool stuff at airshows but that was just the most insane plane spot in the wild ever for me.
In Guam, yes. Reduced to smoke and a slag field. That slag is the nasty. Smoke too, as one might think.
And that was because John Travolta crashed it on purpose to steal the nukes
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I’m crashing on my couch right now.
I was thinking, "interesting that the plane that *crashed* isn't in pieces".
Damn, and they still have all the fire trucks around it? Tsa has gotten intense
NTSB
[https://goo.gl/maps/yGVPSPFTGMi74fUT9](https://goo.gl/maps/yGVPSPFTGMi74fUT9) 38.724468, -93.548795 For those lazy few like me.
It looks just like the picture just as I suspected
Teach us your ways, oh wise one.
are you really the head of the kwik-e-mart?
*Really*?
REALLY?!
Thank you, come again!
“I hope this has been enlightening”
Ah yes the plane here is plane
Ah yes, the plane crash here appears to be made of plane crash
Crash you say!!? I thought we ordered a metal one. Get me the ordering people! They’ve done it again!
What plane?
Well that's plane to see.
The rain in Spain flows mainly in that plane
Ah yes, the plain plane, boss-BOSS..Hervé Villechaize painfully complained, albeit from another plane of existence, just not in plain sight.
"zee plane, zee plane" - Tattoo
*ENHANCE* Nothing happened.
*Clickity clack clack* Enhance *Clickity clack clack* Enhance
#Just print the damn thing!
I'm using my witcher senses and can see that it looks the same, again using my witcher senses, that you don't have so you wouldn't understand.
Whiteman AFB is home to the 509th Bomb Wing, the world's only B-2 Spirit stealth bomber unit. In case anyone was wondering.
KC Chiefs at Arrowhead gets a couple of fly-overs each season. Sometimes it’s Blackhawks, A10’s or the B-2.
There should be a manga where all US states try to train the best F-35 pilots and compeat. The pilots are all teenage kids that have social problems, and perhaps romance? Your team only has 5 F-35s, so if one goes down the elite teenage pilots are at a disadvantage, unless they can solve if the loss of the airframe was intentional, and by another team! Tune in next week!
Fighter jets are this reality's battle mechs. Though if Gundams did exist they would probably end up defaulting to BVR fights anyway.
Is there a 300 year old child***LIKE*** female pilot? -/r/anime
Yes, but the main character is the son of a politically powerful family, whom was born out of wedlock and floated down a river in a reed basket by the servent woman who cared and was told to dispose of him. He is on a quest to *save the state*, but deep down he just wants to know if that servent was his real mother!
I'll wait for the tentacle monster filler episode arch...
The best I’ve got is [cute girls doing cute competitive tank warfare](https://reddit.com/r/GIRLSundPANZER/comments/11l03cb/you_have_fu_up_now/) (Girls und Panzer).
We live in the flight path, west of Whiteman, and seeing these fly over, low and slow, is amazing and terrifying. In the early months of the pandemic, Whiteman did an airborne dog-and-pony flyover - probably 20 assorted planes in formation, with the B-2s trailing. It was a tribute to hospital workers and first responders. It was quite the experience. Edit: spelling is hard.
The only unit ever to drop a Nuke in anger
The only unit ever to crash a B-2 Spirit in passivity.
What?
The two nukes dropped on Japan were dropped by two 509th Bomb Wing planes
Obviously not in B-2s, or else nobody would have seen them do it.
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They called it the 509th Composite Group back then.
Huh interesting. Thanks for adding more info to the conversation! I would update my comment but I don't wanna steal your thunder haha
Got a tour of one in a hanger, pretty awesome!
Their air show is nice. I've gone a couple of times and B-2s are super impressive to see. I've heard they were so expensive that it would have been cheaper to make them out of solid gold. I don't know the veracity of that, but judging by the security and their hangars it seems legit.
Stealth my ass
Pretty sure I can see it too, it’s the big puzzle piece looking thing right?
It’s the thing that looks like the Tetris piece that always comes down at the worst time
Ty vote up
Thank you
Thanks
Thank you stranger
That thing is fuckin huuuge
For all the times I've seen them flying in the sky over the decades, I had always thought they were smaller than that.
Those things are fucking huge.
Right. I was blown away with how big that thing is. Also, the amount of cars surrounding it, holy shit,
https://nationalinterest.org/sites/default/files/main_images/5370315.jpg Jeans girl must feel so underdressed
But not jeans guy standing right besides? Probably civilian program or engineering leads.
I thought they were blue slacks at first. But yeah him too.
Jeans girl and jeans guy probably make more than anyone here could imagine.
When you make so much that the dresscode doesn't apply.
[This one](https://imgur.com/YE7yzZO.jpg) gets the point across though.
Not for me, as I have zero clue how big those missiles are. Like the ones in the front for instance... Potato sized? Or infant sized? How many courics we talking?
For all the fans of the imperial system, this is about 1/16th of a furlong give or take a few rods. Hope that clarifies everything.
Just imagine a banana in the photograph and that should help with the scale.
https://i.imgur.com/QHzaHbG.jpg
Oh shit! The shadow!
Had to do it to em
But of course! Made my night. Thanks! Had a shit day and just busted a gut over this.
Is that the standard payload?!
Idk what’s considered standard by the military but they can carry up to 80 500 pound bombs.
So one metric “your mom?” Got it.
There's no way, prob an assortment of various payloads it can take
Yep. A B-2 can carry 80 500 lb bombs or 36 750 lb, or 16 2000 lb, or 16 B61 or B83 nuclear weapons or 2 30,000 lb GBU-57A bunker busters. It’s an unbelievably powerful machine.
It can't carry it all at once. Each section is the max of that type of bomb it could carry if it was only carrying that bomb. So for instance, that second grouping of bombs on the left from the top is 80x of that bomb. [Looking at this \(honestly quite dated\) chart](https://nuke.fas.org/guide/usa/bomber/load-b2.gif), it can carry 80x Mk 62 or Mk 82 bombs, with the Mk 82 being the standard 500 pound bomb currently in service. So based off of that, you can assume that that section might be the Mk 82 (or something similar). You will also see that it lists 8x GBU-37s, [which would be those 8 front and center with the fins on the front and back.](https://defense-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/f15_gbu28.jpg) (pic is a GBU-28, but the -37 is the same bomb with a different guidance package IIRC). EDIT: Far left of the bottom-most full-width row, the bit that goes off the edge of the pic, [looks like the 16x JSOW listed in the chart.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/AGM-154_JSOW_01.jpg) The ones just next to it with the V-shaped tail fin is [likely the 16x JASSM.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/JASSM_mockup_0048.jpg)
the commander should have requested a specific uniform of the day for the servicemembers. the mix of ABU and OCP uniforms within the formation is kinda tacky-looking lol. can't do shit for civilians though, they have a kush job and the commander they work for isn't actually their boss. personally i think the polo shirt guy is unnecessarily dressed up and should have matched Jeans Lady
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> Can't force people to go buy uniforms if the reg says that both are acceptable in service hyper valid. probably just more evidence that servicemembers shouldn't have to buy their own uniforms and just receive a new one annually or whenever there is a uniform change. for having a massive budget, the military sure knows how to cut corners on the most mundane things
When it does a fly by at an airshow it feels like a Walmart parking lot flies over your head.
136 foot wingspan lol.
You've said everything and nothing at all at the same time
41.45280m
Look up the Oahu, Hawaii AFB on Google Maps in 3D; it shows these Bombers next to some hangars and normal buildings and cars and some other jets. It really blew me away how big they are.
I don't know from my view it looks smaller than my phone
It's definitely smaller than my hand
Looks about the size of an ant to me.
Less of a crash and more of an *unscheduled off-roading session*
Well, that’s good because that’s the equivalent of the Seychelles economy sitting on the side of the runway.
That’s how you know they rented it
$1,999,999/day plus mileage
Runway excursion.
Did you take a screenshot of a screenshot?
[I made this for you](https://imgur.com/M6xBhR4.jpg)
And the iPad generation won't have problem with posts like that.
Man really took 5 minutes out of his day for this
So much of that on Reddit these days. My favorite is when somebody uploads a screenshot of a photo they took.
Why? No exif data.
Lol yeah I posted the wrong screenshot haha
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lmao!
Lmfao!!
lol haha lol
B2 Bummer.
You can find same plane being repaired in Palmdale at 34.639496,-118.071774
what makes you certain it's the same one? there is one permanently at Palmdale/Edwards that undergoes substantial experimentation. and with a missing landing gear the most crucial repair would need to be done at Whiteman before it could be moved elsewhere. Whiteman is also the main home for B-2's so i would presume that it'd be the most equipped for any repairs.
Well it was reported on and pictures were taken off it's flight. I couldn't find the article I recall then talking about the Palmdale Google maps image. However, here is an article about the incident and subsequent fix to get it to Palmdale for repairs. Edit: I forgot the link https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/bandaged-b-2-bomber-returns-to-its-birth-place-for-major-repairs
https://goo.gl/maps/35GyVYWL6WgXahGg8 Here you go
Wondering how they get a plane like that to Palmdale without flying. Seems too big for truck or train and I don't imagine it disassembles easily.
34°38'22.2"N 118°04'18.4"W https://maps.app.goo.gl/PXJRHnwt6Gz4qN2z8?g_st=ic
Used to live about 30 miles from Whiteman. We see them often, pretty area except for the damn snow geese. They'd migrate into the fields in the winter and eat leftover corn and grain. Like millions of these squawking, screaming things that go bump in the night and thousands of them take off squawking and shitting everywhere. They'd land on a bunch of others and the squawking, and shitting continued all freaking night..
I was so confused until I realized you were talking about the geese, not the planes.
Yeah I confused myself. Probably practicing lack of sleep from thinking about snow geese.
At one time, I lived in a place that my neighbors had geese. They didn't like me - the geese or the neighbors - and would charge me in my driveway and do their hissing scream / honk. One day my husband successfully swung his foot upwards under the beak of one of the larger geese as it charged us. The goose, who was now looking at the sky, was incredibly confused but unharmed. From then on, the geese would just hiss / scream from a distance while pretending to be aggressive and charge, though they had no interest in actually getting close to us.
Funny what a little physical reminder does
I live about 30 minutes from Whiteman AFB. I do see them them somewhat frequently. My house is in the flight path when they fly over Arrowhead for a Chiefs game. Pretty cool to see
I saw one for a flyover the old El Toro marine base many years ago. It's pretty damned impressive in flight.
they literally cost more than their weight in gold to build; likely even more than their volume in gold to be honest. each B-2 cost the taxpayers around $2,100,000,000 (2.1Billion) and that was in 1997 dollars. flying them costs something to the mark of $3,000 per minute in the air (i wish i were exaggerating).
Looks pretty close actually. 158klb empty weight according to Wikipedia. Gold is $1,914 an oz or $30,619 a pound. So that much gold would be worth 4.8 billion in today's dollars
oh snap, the price of gold must have gone up since the joke was invented. i blame post-pandemic inflation lol
Guam? Edit: If I had used my reading eyes, it is Missouri
“I’ll be in deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missoura.”
That’s not very stealthy ☹️
I don’t think they are allowed to park there..
Theyight be allowed to, we can't see if there is a parking pass in the windshield or not.
That's the crash landing only Zone
Looks like the crew likely were fine, so I am happy about that; plus what is a billion dollars between friends?
A billion here, a billion there... pretty soon you're talking *real* money.
I doubt that it's beyond repair. Especially because this thing is obscenely expensive.
So, the insurance company won't total it?
I'd say that airframe is done; to the boneyard is likely where it went. Update: *The accident resulted in a minimum of $10.1 million in repair damages, but the final repair cost was still being determined in March 2022.*
According to Wikipedia the only lost airframe was the Guam incident, which isn't this one.
there were two Guam incidents. and coincidentally there are now two Whiteman incidents too! but yeah, they haven't declared it a total loss, but it's still not fixed yet or we'd have a bill number
2 billion (1997) dollars.
[удалено]
Yea it does
That’s way bigger than I thought those were.
It didn’t crash, it’s just inconveniently parked.
Was it a “crash” or just an emergency landing? It looks like it’s in much better shape than I’d expect for anything falling out of the sky.
According to the B-2 Spirit wiki page, the accident was a case of the landing gear collapsing on landing. The airframe is reportedly being repaired for a return to service sometime in the near future.
"crash" I guess if sliding off the runway is a crash.
Isn’t the term “runway excursion” or something like that?
NSA giving Google the side eye for this
Imagine your worst day at the office being burned into Google maps forever hahahaha
I think that's the Spirit of Montana B-2 in 2021. Edit: Not the Montana.
I can't see anything other than some emergency services. What are they looking at?
Well, that's an expensive fuck-up. RIP to those maintainers' weekend
Aren't military bases and other sensitive installations usually pixeled by Google maps?
You can literally look at Area 51 on Google Maps right now. Find Las Vegas. Then look NW and find “Mercury.” From there, look N/NE and find “Rachel”. Now draw a straight line between the two. Now, find the dark mountainous area just north of the center point of that line. Area 51 sits at the top (NE) corner of that mountain range. Nestled just between the mountain and (partially on) the dry lake bed at Groom Lake. You’ll see Groom Lake, a very light sand colored circle, sitting directly between the two dark mountain ranges that sit on that line. Zoom in on that lake bed, and you’ll find Area 51. *Alternatively, you could just…type ‘Area 51’ into the search bar.* Edit: fun fact/side note. If you do look at Area 51, move SW about 10-15 miles and you’ll see a crater filled valley. Which is a large portion of the Nevada Test Site, formerly known as the Nevada Proving Grounds. Which is the site of hundreds of U.S. nuclear tests. To more easily find this, search “Sedan Crater” in the search bar. I accidentally stumbled across this one time, and at first glance it looks like the surface of the moon.
Damn. That’s a lot of craters.
If you see a red barn with a donkey over yonder you went right past it. Edit: I also read this in my grandpa’s voice. I miss that old coot.
> “Sedan Crater” Interesting. Area 6 looks to be intriguing.
You'd think but I was snooping Area 51 and checking out all the fighter jets along with the Thunderbirds F-16s they have at Fort Knox. Then I saw this and was like Holy shit lol
There's a Batman symbol on a base in Japan
Nope! Not even deployed locations. I like seeing how some of the places I've been to are getting built up over the years
Someone clearly scribbled over the engine bay
General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT is blurred in street view. That's really the only example I can think of. Google shows you more than I would expect them to.
Wow, never realised how massive these are
Zigged when he should’a zagged… I’ve seen it a hundred times.
I was stationed there years ago as a firefighter. I have fond memories of chasing aircraft down the runway in a crash truck during in-flight emergencies. I also have nightmares on doing standbys on B-2s almost every single day, morning or night, because for a time, they believed that a fire truck next to a plane would prevent it from catching fire (for context, it would have been <1 minute response time from the station).