Accident Reconstruction Network > News >June 2008

Accident Reconstruction News Article

B-2 Crash Video

In the video your first see B-2 tail number 88-0331 make a normal take-off from Andersen AFB. It is followed by the incident aircraft, tail number 89-0127. You can see the bomber pitch rapidly nose-up. Because of the skewed sensors, the flight control computer thinks the B-2 is at its 140kt rotation speed, but it's actually at 130kt. The sensors were also indicating that the bomber was nose-down, so commanded the rapid pitch-up. The combination of slow airspeed and high angle-of-attack caused the aircraft to stall and roll to the left. As the wingtip hits the ground, the pilots eject.

The video also shows the USAF's reconstruction of the accident from two viewpoints, behind and ahead of the aircraft. Along the bottom are instrument representations showing altitude, airspeed, attitude and stick position. Then you get to see video of the crash from a different angle - again the normal take-off by aircraft 88-0331 followed by the dramatic pitch-up by accident aircraft 89-0127.

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