More photos released of Guam B-2 crash

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news/2008/07/airforce_b2_pics_071508w

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 17, 2008 6:33:33 EDT

More pictures of the stealth bomber crash at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, were released this month by Air Combat Command.

The pictures show the immediate aftermath of the Feb. 26 crash as fire fighters and other emergency crews struggle to extinguish flames from the B-2 Spirit bomber and inspect an ejection seat. The wreckage burned for six hours.

The photos were not among the pictures released in June when Air Combat Command issued the results of an accident investigation board inquiry. The board determined the $1.4 billion jet crashed shortly after taking off because water trapped in several sensors along the nose of the B-2 led sensors to send false information to the pilots and the plane’s navigation computers.

The automated navigation system, responding to incorrect data about the plane’s speed, altitude and angle, suddenly pitched the bomber’s nose upward, causing it to lose lift and fall to the ground.

The two pilots, Maj. Ryan Link and Capt. Justin Grieve of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., safely ejected before the jet’s left wing touched the ground, sending the bomber into a fiery 2,100-foot-long slide.

DISCUSS: The crash

Air Combat Command The Air Force released a series of photos from the Feb. 23 crash of a B-2 bomber on Andersen Air Base, Guam, which made fast rounds on the Internet. The $1.4 billion loss of a B-2 Spirit bomber was the most expensive crash in Air Force history.