B-2 Spirit Cockpit Video
 

Good Evening All:
I found this video on another aviation web site which has the first cockpit video I have ever seen of a B-2 Spirit in flight.
I wonder how they ever let a reporter ride along in the B-2 let alone let the video out.

Seriously?

-RP

I was under the "mistaken" impression that this aircraft was super squirrel stuff but I stand to be corrected by those with more experience...

Well, I have to admit to having no idea what a 'super squirrel' is, or represents but, do you seriously believe some random bloke blagged his way onto one of the most secure air bases in the world, then blagged his way into the crew room, blagged his way into some flying clothing, blagged his way into the cockpit of a B-2, managed to record a few seconds of non-descript footage of the instruments/displays, blagged his way off the (very secure) base again and then uploaded his nefarious video revealing all, sorry, I meant none, of the B-2s secrets? All of this without the USAF/DoD knowing about it and actually allowing it? The mind well and truly boggles...

-RP

Although interesting - a bit of an anticlimactic meh to be honest..
All i see is a good old EFIS - and some of them multi-configurable flat green screens you see in most military jets.
Where's the plasma generator that's supposed to make it harder to see?!! (sarcasm alert)
And no cup holders - that's un-American!!
All the really secret or nukelar stuff is probably accessible on other menus - select the home screen and it could be an F-16!
The Batmobile is just a big ol funny shaped jet - with 767 wheels - and a very important mission.
And on secrecy - they put James May in the back of a U2 - and certain Senators got rides in the Blackbird.
Now - if it had been a B-21 cockpit video...

If you can take your head out of the sarcastic bucket for a moment, I don't think for one second that is what the OP was suggesting.

I think he was merely stating surprise that the DOD permitted a journalist to ride along and allowed him to make and release a video. I'm surprised too.

Bit harsh?

CG

Indeed.

A couple of interesting takes for me was the ‘right-handed’ stick and throttle configuration for the Captain’s position, as opposed to it being a ‘left-handed’ configuration in the C-17 with the shared throttles in the centre console position (same is true for the A400M, though with a side-stick). Previously I’ve been told it makes no difference to fly the C-17/A400M ‘left-handed’, but NG clearly thought differently when they designed the B-2.

Also, what is the story with the internal front windshield at about 58 secs? I assume it’s to mask cockpit emissions for stealth purposes?

Reporter? What makes anyone assume those two or three seconds of uninformative rapid-sweep blink-and-you-missed-it had a journalist involved, or that it revealed anything militatily useful to anyone?
The weapons engineer's granny could have done that - but far more likely the weapons engineer himself, or merely some erk from the phot section...

The B-1 had two right-handed pilot positions. When the general in charge of the B-1 program took over the C-17 program, he insisted it have two right-handed positions. When Douglas presented USAF with the bill for that late change their tune changed and the pilot positions remained mirror image. I doubt having two right hand positions was Northrop's idea. I'd guess that USAF imposed it on them as they tried to impose it on Douglas.

Thats interesting Ken, thanks. Always thought the left-handed configuration to be odd, but had been convinced by others it was perfectly normal and natural. Not so sure now, though strangely it makes sense to me if there is a yoke rather than a stick.

LH config is entirely natural to fly, even with a simple stick, even after 30+ years of flying the 'standard' configuration. It's just not a thing.

Thanks Jockey. I guess it just seems counter-intuitive to me, and I'm speaking as a leftie myself.

Good Afternoon Melthmothtw:


A long time ago I was on one of first transition courses on the A-320 as a B-727 F/O to A-320 F/O.

It only took about 15 minutes in the simulator to feel comfortable with it and the same years later transitioning as Captain to the A-320 from a B767 F/O and the A-330 from Captain on a B-767. The one things you did have to watch for was the quick reaction to control inputs and not to "stir the pot"!

3 turbofans & 1 stealth drive, the black lever is there to remind you that you are talking to Scotty somewhere in the bowels of the ship who decides on stealth factor!

Good Evening India 24 and Thrust Augmentation:
Could this be a "master slave" concept for auto-thrust?

It's a good place to put any required 'switchery' as, obviously, you can't fit (or operate) switches from the other throttles, when all engines running equally.