Damaged B-2 returns to service

[Wrench 9,801]

From the Los Angeles Times, March 20, 2014

 

Full article here:

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-c1-rebuilding-billion-dollar-bomber-20140320-dto,0,285088.htmlstory#axzz2wZkmjzy7

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,557]

Just curious, can you dismantel the plane and transport it back on the sea? Wouldn`t it be easier? Because the damage the fire has caused seems very heavy.

 

But nice to see it still flying, good work NG ;)

[Nesher 628]

what a story! it's good they managed to restore the aircraft and for a cheap price I might add

and the numbers, damn... 47 hours of maintenance for every hour in the air, f**k me! :)

[JediMaster 451]

That's not because of the plane itself, that's because of the stealth features. Fixing it isn't that hard, it's making sure it's still stealthy when you're done.

[+Dave 2,322]

They flew it back to depot for maintenance. The patched it up the best they could put serious limits on what kind of flying it could do and they flew it to be restored back to full operational status. 

[macelena 1,070]

That´s not the kind of plane you drop overboard when you don´t have space to spare, is it?

[+daddyairplanes 10,146]

replies to each

blackbird.... probably didnt want to add sea corrosion to the list of problems. not many ships exlusively us millitary manned big enough to carry it covered(inside)

jedi  no need to be stealthy for the flight back to depot. but its shape is inherently stealthy, the article said they had a support plane to monitor and to show up better on ATC radars

Dave  true but the cost to get it airworthy to go back to depot was nearly twice that of operational repairs and upgrades

macelena.... i recall on of the arguements against the plane as a whole being that it was worth 4 times its weight in gold.  so no,  not one to scrap if you can help it...

nesher....... id rather not.

[JediMaster 451]

No, but the stealth is why it takes 47 man hours to get it fixed.

[+daddyairplanes 10,146]

true   my misread on your post