In 2008, the U.S. B2 stealth bomber crashed on Guam, turning $2.4 billion into scrap iron, and the cause was hindsight: it got wet
At 10:00 a.m. on February 23, 2008, a B-2 bomber, designated the Kansas Phantom, took off from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam and prepared to fly back to air base in the contiguous State of Missouri with two pilots on board.
The B-2 has flown more than 5,000 hours before, and today it looks like just an ordinary flight.
When the Kansas Phantom began to glide on the runway, the main warning lights in the cockpit suddenly lit up, and some strange atmospheric data information appeared on the home screen, which quickly returned to normal.
The two pilots thought it was just a minor procedural error, did not care, and continued to take off as originally planned.
The plane gradually accelerated, and soon, the screen showed that the speed had met the take-off conditions, the pilot pulled up the nose of the aircraft, and the main landing gear was off the ground ready to take off.
But when the wheels are lifted and slid forward for about 20 meters, an unexpected situation occurs!
The nose of the Kansas Phantom suddenly tilted up sharply, completely beyond the angle required for take-off, the fuselage was almost perpendicular to the ground, the aircraft could not produce the required lift, the power was not enough, and began to stall.
The two pilots were taken aback and tried to abort the take-off procedure to see if they could bring the plane back to level. But at this time, the aircraft was only more than 20 meters above the ground, and there was no room for adjustment. After stalling, the plane began to lose control, causing the airframe to vibrate and tilt to the left.
Seeing that the left wing had hit the ground, the pilot knew that it was irretrievable, so they had to abandon the aircraft and parachute to escape, landing safely on the ground tens of meters away.
The two watched as the B-2 tumbled on the side of the runway and crashed into the ground, then exploded and burned.
Fortunately, there were no intercepted ammunition on board and no more serious damage was done.
Loaded with dozens of tons of fuel to return to the U.S. mainland, it took two days for airport firefighters to extinguish the fire.
The Kansas Phantom was so badly damaged that it could not be repaired and had to be scrapped. It was the first crash of the B-2 and the most expensive single-flying vehicle accident in aviation history.
Why is such an advanced stealth bomber so out of control during the take-off phase? The U.S. Air Force immediately launched an investigation into the accident, and other B-2s were temporarily grounded.
Investigators reviewed footage of the B-2's takeoff that day and first identified a problem. The Kansas Phantom took off 457 meters shorter than other B-2s. Investigating the black box data, it was also found that the height was about 41 meters lower than normal after liftoff.
In other words, when the plane was pulled up, it had not actually reached the normal take-off speed, but the pilot received a prompt to meet the speed standard. Taking off at a time when the actual speed is not up to standard, the aircraft has insufficient lift and can only get out of control.
Investigators also found that the nose of the machine had been pulled up, but the level inside the machine showed a negative octave. Therefore, the computer judged that the plane was diveting downwards, forcibly lifting the nose upwards, and finally caused irreparable consequences.
The B-2 uses a flying wing body, which is a miracle in flight engineering. But there are no horizontal tails and vertical tails of other aircraft, which are very troublesome to operate, and can only be controlled by computer systems, and the pilots are only responsible for issuing different commands.
Once the computer is wrong, the pilot cannot change the operation mode in a very short period of time, and can only choose to abandon the aircraft and parachute.
The cause of the Kansas Phantom crash has been initially found because of an error in the computer on board. But why would such a sophisticated flight computer make such a low-level mistake?
Investigators questioned the two pilots, who recalled strange atmospheric data messages that had appeared on the home screen before takeoff.
The B-2 has 24 sensors dedicated to monitoring atmospheric data, providing information about the aircraft's speed, altitude, flight posture, and more.
Is the problem with these sensors? Are they transmitting incorrect data to the computer, causing the computer to make a mistake?
After an in-depth investigation of the flight data, 3 out of 24 sensors did go wrong, and it was they who provided the computer with the wrong data!
Now the question becomes why are these 3 sensors wrong?
The Kansas Phantom was supposed to go to Missouri Air Force Base, but due to weather conditions and lack of visibility, the entire trip was postponed for a full day. The ready Kansas Ghost was thrown on the tarmac of Guam Airport without any cover.
Doing so may not be a problem in the United States, but it will not work in Guam! Guam is tropical, and it just happened to be a downpour that day, and the Kansas Ghost soaked in the water for a day.
The investigators approached the same type of sensor to simulate a storm test, and found that it would cause moisture in the water ingress to get wet, resulting in incorrect data. The mystery of the kansas ghost crash has finally been fully revealed.
Because the B-2 is expensive, the US air bases are put into thermostatic hangar for maintenance, and there will be no data error problems, and the maintenance personnel do not have this awareness.
But in Guam, everything is different, and the maintenance conditions here are far less than those of the United States.
In fact, two years before the accident, maintenance personnel on the island found that the B-2's atmospheric data sensors were often wrong. Therefore, several heaters are prepared to dehumidify the sensors before the aircraft is started.
Unfortunately, because of the lack of communication between ground maintenance personnel, many people do not know that there is such a device, resulting in inadequate water maintenance. The $2.4 billion B-2 stealth strategic bomber was destroyed by inconspicuous moisture.
