Another B-2 Takes Flight, if Not as Well as Hoped
The second of Northrop’s B-2 Stealth bombers flew for the first time Friday, making a 2 1/2-hour flight that was cut short by mechanical problems and high winds.
The flight was an important milestone in the B-2 program, coming roughly five months behind the original schedule and one month past a revised deadline.
The aircraft reached 325 knots and 10,000 feet altitude. The plane was forced to land when its instruments indicated a drop in fuel pressure in one of the engine heat exchangers, Northrop said.
A Northrop spokesman said the problem did not require the engine to be shut down and was “not considered a serious problem.”
High winds also played a role in the curtailment of the flight, a company news release said. There were winds of 15 knots at Edwards Air Force base, gusting to 19 knots--”near the upper limits for crosswind landings during flight testing.”
The first B-2 flew on July 17, 1989, and has completed 16 flights since then. It has been on the ground since last summer, undergoing preparations for testing of its ability to avoid detection by radar.
In an interview earlier this month, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force John Welch Jr. said the service would have liked to see more productivity and more results sooner in the B-2 flight test program.
