Message posted by NotTelling (Member since 07/02/2023) on September 13, 2023 at 19:11:14 PST:
"At the link you can see the B-2 Spirit's 'cup' system used up until the airframes own onboard systems were trusted enough to take over. Note how it is true and level with the attitude of the airframe itself. Not so with the B-21." 1) Trailing cones are part of the flight test instrumentation and are not in any way connected to the aircraft's systems. Therefore they are not "used up until the airframes own onboard systems were trusted enough to take over"...the aircraft's air data system was depended upon from first flight. Granted, flight was restricted to the middle of the envelope until the trailing cone (and related instrumentation) validated the accuracy of the aircraft's systems. 2) As for being "true and level with the attitude of the airframe itself", you're looking at the cone's support structure, and it was simply aligned to minimize drag. The cone itself was extended 150' behind the aircraft to clear the aft flow field. 3) Finally, the B-21 test team may yet install a trailing cone, but if they don't it could be for lack of available volume in the aircraft or perhaps they believe the boom to be sufficient. The B-2 didn't use a boom because the flush-mounted air data ports were still an unknown and there was concern that the boom would interfere with their function.
In Reply to: Re: New B21 Images posted by Smythers on September 13, 2023 at 17:04:52 PST:
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