I love the smell of B-2 Bomber in the Morning...Smells like $1.2 Billion...
The B2 Stealth Bomber, the favorite airplane of men ages 10 to dead everywhere, is the most expensive aircraft in the world, as well as being the arguable star of the otherwise middling film Broken Arrow. Video after the jump.
This B2, though, taking off from a base in Guam had a little trouble and plunged into outstanding, fiery carnage. There's nothing like seeing that much money go up in flames.
Don't worry, nobody was hurt. If you watch the video you can see both pilots eject just as the left side of the aircraft scrapes Earth. Enjoy this carnage with a clear, giggling conscience.
Initially, the crash was reported as occurring for "unknown reasons." Now, though, Wired says that it was water sensors that were failing and caused faulty readings in the instrumentation to induce a stall right out of the gates.
Water sensors? You mean these things? That's what 1.2 billion is riding on?! I don't know a lot about aeronautical engineering, but it seems to me like there ought to be one or two safeguards against this. Oh well. At least we got a sweet crash video out of it. Worth my tax dollars: emphatic yes.
