The results are in after months of investigations into what was the United States' first and only B-2 Stealth Bomber crash. On February 23 a B-2 bomber crashed at Andersen Air Force Base while trying to take off. Today in a teleconference interview with the press the U.S. Air Force released the findings of it's investigation.


Officials say it was a computer miscalculation that caused the billion-dollar B-2 crash that occurred at AAFB at 10:30 in the morning. Investigation Board president and vice-commander of the 8th Air Force Major General Floyd Carpenter says moisture was a major factor in the crash, saying, "It was not a person error, not a pilot or techinician error. It was some bad data because we had moisture and some air sensors on the wing theirs 24 sensors on this wing 12 on the top and 12 on the bottom in groups of four right on the nose and on the cheeks out on the wings. These little sensors measure the pressure of the air; obviously, to give the airplane altitude airspeed angle of attack they calculate all of those things."


Specifically the miscalculations were caused by moisture that was present in three of the 24 sensors during a routine re-calibration of the sensors. Gen. Carpenter explains that these sensors much like any scale used to measure weight must be re-calibrated or zeroed out periodically to make sure their measurements are accurate. In this case the moisture threw off the recalibrations. "If the calibration is accomplished when moisture is present in the sensor the flight computers may calculate inaccurate air speed and altitude data when the moisture is no longer present," he added.


In this case the computer miscalculated the planes airspeed, clocking it at 140 knots - the normal airspeed necessary for takeoff - when it was actually only traveling at 130 knots when the pilot initiated the takeoff. When the wheels lifted off, the computers mistakenly calculated a negative angle of attack, causing the computers to kick-in, which is a normal safety measure of the system. "So with the airplane thinking it was pointed at the ground the flight computer initiated a 'pull-up', if you will. It initiated nose up flight controls and so the initial nose high was done by the computer. The pilot obviously immediately counteracted that, but by the time he could do that it was already too late. The airspeed was detiorating the nose was extremely high and the aircraft stalled," Carpenter detailed.


Although these explanations make it appear as if the computer took control of the flight, the general explained, "Essentially the erroneous data caused the aircraft flight control systems to initiate an uncommanded 30° nose high pitch up on takeoff, causing the aircraft to stall and it's subsequent crash." The general is adamant that the pilots were in full control, saying of the aircraft, "It's not taking off by auto-pilot or any other means - the pilots are in command of the aircraft as it takes off down the runway."


The investigation board is comprised of 14 active duty and Department of Defense-trained professionals comprised of experts from a wide range of speciliaties, including a pilot maintenance officer medical doctor as well as legal and technical advisors. Over the course of seven weeks, the team conducted 26 interviews with various people, including the pilot maintenance airmen ground witnesses and first responders. They also inspected the wreckage all this in order to determine the most probable contributing factors to the crash.


The two pilots of the B-2 ejected safely at the time of the incident. Carpenter confirmed that they ejected after the wing clipped the ground just seconds before the crash. The B-2 that crashed was from the 509th Bomb Wing based out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The deployment of B-2s to Guam are part of the continuous bomber presence the Air Force has maintained on island since 2004.