B-2 down in Guam, Crew ejected safely.

[Swanee]

Video of the crash site

http://www.alert5.com/2008/02/b-2-stealth-bomber-guam-crash-video.html

I remember some B-2 guy from Whiteman who worked with my old man at ACC telling me that if one of those things were to crash or catch fire he wouldn't want to be around as the smoke would be really toxic to anything living...

 

[HAL Pilot]

I don't even want to get into it ...it's sorta unspoken thing in the back of everyone's mind about who get's the jumpseat/IP seat in the Buff. It's one of those things that an outsider looks at and goes, "WTF?!?" and anyone inside the community just goes along day-in-and-day-out excepting the status quo.

I don't have the facts, but they did lose more than a few people when the others punched out and there was a man left behind. .....

When I went through Mather in 1984, our flight commander was a B-52 Nav Major. He told us of a story from when he ejected. The Instructor Navs had a non-ejection seat between the regular Nav seats in the belly (the Nav seats eject downward). He said they had one instructor who was religiously counting down the days until he rotated because he just knew that there was going to come a day when he watched everyone punch out leaving him there. Sure enough, he was on a low level with this instructor when things went to shit and the pilots called for ejection. They were too low for the instructor to bail out the hole after the ejection seats were gone (the "plan" for these guys). The Major said that he looked at the instructor and the instructor just said "I fucking knew it....go....just go...." while shaking his head. The Major said pulling the handle was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life. He said he still vividly saw the instructor's expression of pure anger and heard the bitterness in his voice years later.

 

[HuggyU2]

HAL,
Was that in Nam or was it simply on a CONUS low level route?
Tragic story.

 

[vicariousrider]

:icon_long
$2 billion?

I agree. Unless it's going into orbit, it should stay firmly planted on the ground.

That amount could buy us a new sub....or a few other vessels...

 

[HAL Pilot]

HAL,
Was that in Nam or was it simply on a CONUS low level route?
Tragic story.

CONUS.