As a B-2 stealth bomber skidded down a Missouri runway, its left landing gear collapsed, and fuel pouring from a punctured gas tank, the pilot at the plane’s controls stomped on the pedal of the remaining brakes with as much force as he could muster.
According to an accident report on the 2022 crash, the pilot “st[ood] up out of [the] seat to give it everything [he] had on the right brake” as the stealth plane skidded helplessly on its left wing for over a mile.
Air Force Global Strike Command released the final report this week of an Accident Investigation Board that reviewed the Dec. 1010, 2022, crash. Investigators found that a series of failures in the plane’s hydraulic system prevented the left landing gear from locking in place beneath it as the aircraft prepared to land. When the