A billion to build

[Plane]

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&vid=93a50d67-a24b-498b-bb56-7df0ea18b87b&playlist=videoByTag:tag:most%20watched%20news:ns:MSNVideo_Top_Cat:mk:us:sf:DailyCount:st:1:sd:-1:vs:0&from=MSNHP&tab=m1198774283321&GT1=42003



A video of a B-2 wrecking.

The crew escaped , the cause is supposed to be sensors being too damp to operate properly.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Wasn't it sirs who promised us that these things were actually waterproof?

[Amianthus]

Wasn't it sirs who promised us that these things were actually waterproof?

The skin is waterproof. Doesn't mean that water vapor cannot get inside.

After all, they have doors. It';s not like they're built around the pilots, who must then spend the rest of their lives inside the vehicle.

I thought this would be self-evident, but apparently not to everyone.

[hnumpah]

Still, one would think the sensors and other vital electronic components would be protected from moisture. After all, I have doors and windows on my truck, yet the electronics work fine in the most humid weather.

[Amianthus]

Still, one would think the sensors and other vital electronic components would be protected from moisture. After all, I have doors and windows on my truck, yet the electronics work fine in the most humid weather.

And the electronics work fine on the B2 in most humid weather.

This was, after all, the first time one has crashed.

And the sensors cannot be completely sealed from the outside. After all, if they're completely sealed, how do they sense?

[hnumpah]

And the sensors cannot be completely sealed from the outside. After all, if they're completely sealed, how do they sense?

Mitsubishi seems to have solved that problem with my truck, as has Dodge with my wife's Caravan. Oh, yeah, and they both cost much less than a million bucks per copy. Odd that the Air Force can't do a better job.

[Xavier_Onassis]

And the sensors cannot be completely sealed from the outside. After all, if they're completely sealed, how do they sense?


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This was a sensor that detects the position of the aircraft by comparison to a horizon or something like that.
The actual sensor could be waterproofed, while the sensing detector could still be exposed to whatever it is sensing. If humidity is a problem with the sensing detector, then there should be a way to prevent it from getting wet, or a way to dry it off.

Being as the survival of the B-2 depends on these sensors, they need to be modified. Aircraft on a planet mostly covered by water should be better able to deal with humidity.
=================================
Odd that the Air Force can't do a better job.

The Air Force did not actually build the plane. Boeing or Lockheed need to do a better job. The Air Force perhaps should hire more qulaified quality control experts. Perhaps there is some officer in the avionics department saying right now "I TOLD them that this would happen, but the fools didn't listen!", and when he told them, some call between a Congressman and his superiors got the thing past inspection years ago.

I imagine that this plane was not under warranty, so we get to pick up the tab for said incompetent aircraft.

[Amianthus]

This was a sensor that detects the position of the aircraft by comparison to a horizon or something like that.

Actually, it was a multi-sensor cluster that also measured air pressure and air speed.

The actual sensor could be waterproofed, while the sensing detector could still be exposed to whatever it is sensing. If humidity is a problem with the sensing detector, then there should be a way to prevent it from getting wet, or a way to dry it off.

There must be, or there would have been more than ONE crash in 20 years of service.

[Amianthus]

Mitsubishi seems to have solved that problem with my truck, as has Dodge with my wife's Caravan. Oh, yeah, and they both cost much less than a million bucks per copy. Odd that the Air Force can't do a better job.

Your truck and your wife's Caravan have air pressure / air speed / horizontal attitude sensors?

My, they must be far more complicated than my vehicle.

My vehicle has exactly two external sensors - one for the automatic headlights and one for the outside air temperature. BOTH are affected by humidity. And the headlight sensor is interior, on the dashboard - if the plastic cover on the ambient light sensor becomes fogged up, it will turn on the headlights. The exterior temperature sensor can read off by 2 or 3 degrees depending on relative humidity.

[Xavier_Onassis]

It is fortunate that no one's vehicle can fall out of the sky due to faulty sensors.
My Mercedes has an ambient temperature indicator that is consistently 20 degrees lower than the actual temperature. To replace it would involve removal of the dashboard, and adding 20 degrees is a lot easier than that.
And, no, it is not indicating Celsius. It says 59?F when it is 79?F. I suppose there is a way to change this to ?C, but I don't see the point in changing that.

Still, it is disappointing that a bazillion dollar aircraft destroyed itself even after 20 years for such a minor problem. Perhaps the pilot forgot to do something to dehumidify the sensors.

I don't think they are all 20 years old, are they?

[sirs]

Wasn't it sirs who promised us that these things were actually waterproof?

I've lost count of how many times Xo is wrong

[hnumpah]

My vehicle has exactly two external sensors.... And the headlight sensor is interior, on the dashboard...

Eh?

[Amianthus]

I don't think they are all 20 years old, are they?

Pretty close. The first ones were built in 1988, the last around 1992 or 1993.

[Amianthus]

Eh?

It senses something external to the vehicle. In this case light, which is passed through the windshield.

However, not all sensors for external conditions can be shielded from weather.

[Xavier_Onassis]

However, not all sensors for external conditions can be shielded from weather.

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Being as this B-2 accident was the first due to this cause in 18 to 20 years, I am guessing that the sensor or sensors responsible were either defective or some step in required maintainence was skipped, and the real cause is pilot or ground crew error.