B2 bomber cockpit how to#

Some ground vehicles are sized not necessarily for battlefield functionality, but rather to fit inside the cargo airplanes that will take them to said battlefield. Air Force B-2 Spirit assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, deployed to Iceland for a Bomber Task Force mission, during refueling operations from a KC-135 with the 100th Air Refueling. And pilot size and weight restrictions aren’t written to limit who can stuff themselves inside a tight cockpit, but who can be blasted out of one. Luke Jayne during a visit to Whiteman AFB in 2006. In fact, ejection seat capabilities have been limiting pilot selection for decades, to the disappointment of countless would-be aviators and the frustration of military commanders desperate to fill increasingly empty cockpits. Vice President Dick Cheney sits inside a B-2s cockpit with pilot Capt. The situation improved a few years ago with the Martin-Baker MK 16 seat, which allows pilots weighing as little as 103 pounds and as much as 245 pounds to eject from the F-35 fighter jet at 65,000 feet. Now, another new ejection system meets even stricter safety standards, works with today’s gear-laden helmets, and further expands the pool of eligible pilots climbing into the B-2 stealth bomber and future airplanes that will also use the system.

B2 bomber cockpit how to#

interior of the cockpit and how to train and train B2 pilots.

“In the past, simply surviving an ejection was considered a good enough standard. Cockpit, loading and structure display of the B-2 stealth bomber. Being a B-2 pilot means experiencing the rush of takeoff and the pressure of weapons drops while flying in the nation’s only stealth bomber. Now the Air Force expects its pilots to be able to walk away from an ejection, start training again, and be back in action right away,” says John Hampton.