5 ms·

The aircraft seems to be a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. > The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American he

The aircraft seems to be a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. > The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low observable stealth technology designed for penetrating dense anti-aircraft defenses. Designed during the Cold War, it is a flying wing design with a crew of two.[1][3] The bomber is subsonic and can deploy both conventional and thermonuclear weapons, such as up to eighty 500-pound class (230 kg) Mk 82 JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen 2,400-pound (1,100 kg) B83 nuclear bombs. The B-2 is the only acknowledged aircraft that can carry large air-to-surface standoff weapons in a stealth configuration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit

geph2021 5y ago
And The B-2s are apparently stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base[1]. Just due south of the image. Perhaps lining up for a landing approach? 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteman_Air_Force_Base https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteman_Air_Force_Base
bcrosby95 5y ago
My father-in-law helped design the pilot seat for that. Unfortunately he was unable to make the transition to computer aided design. After the defense cutbacks in the 90s, he could only find minimum wage jobs for the rest of his working life.
- abhiminator 5y ago
  >After the defense cutbacks in the 90s, he could only find minimum wage jobs for the rest of his working life. That's unfortunate to hear. Hope he's doing well now, in his retirement life.
  - bcrosby95 5y ago
    Of course he's doing well, he has the best son-in-law ever ;) Jokes aside, he's doing fine. They got by on my mother-in-law's teacher salary and were lucky enough to get in on the California housing game in the early '80s. They mostly don't have to worry about the bills, and all their kids live within 15 minutes of them - we see them around 1-2x per week. And if they ever did run into issues, one of us could take them in. I just like to keep it in mind because I've been subject to fairly good fortunes when it comes to career. Same thing with all my relatives. But my wife's family has had more bumps along the way.
- PostOnce 5y ago
  In case anyone else is reading and thinking of that predicament, it needn't be a showstopper. You have a couple of options: You can do it the old way, and pay someone to convert it into the new way (I know a mechanical engineer who either sketches things or does 2D on a computer, and pays someone else to 3D it) which can then be sent to the client or manufacturer or whatever. Or, if you're doing the whole product to sell, you can do it however you want, no one cares how their product was designed, just that the end product is good. I don't know how the housing on the monitor I'm looking at was designed, and I don't care, I just care that it's decent. I feel like I count rant about this for a while, but all the "rules" change if you're taking clients or customers and not looking for FTE. It's got its own challenges, but with a few good / high paying clients, it's even easier than FTE, you can grow or not if you want.
  - a2800276 5y ago
    Not sure if the Air Force will buy bomber seats from the back of a truck of some guy who designs them with paper and pencil.
    - PostOnce 5y ago
      If not, the defense contractor will subcontract to you and mark it up 4000% :) Also, the government generally has policies that some % of things have to come from small businesses, sometimes they'll hire you just in order to check a box, I'd guess. Nevertheless, if you can design an airplane seat, there are other customers than the air force. Lots of niche machines are made by 3 or 4 people and sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit, to farms, to factories, to anyone in business. Consumers will argue with you for a week over a $10 purchase, but people buying things to make money with won't bat an eye at $10,000. There's a great big world out there and every hurdle doesn't have to be jumped, you can just walk around it half the time.
- FearlessNebula 5y ago
  Could he not take a class or an apprenticeship for CAD?
  - Skunkleton 5y ago
    My dad went through a similar transition. In his case, the world transitioned away gradually from his skill set. He was able to continue moving to new jobs that needed his legacy skill set, until eventually he couldn't find them easily anymore. By the time he was in this predicament, he couldn't find a a path to restart his education. The critical issue was employment, once he found a job, the critical issue was working and keeping that job. He didn't have the luxury of taking the time to build a new skillset.
  - xvector 5y ago
    Learning things becomes much harder when you are older. Our brains are physically less receptive to the process of learning.
    - cyberlurker 5y ago
      I don’t think this is true. I think responsibilities pile up and/or the need to learn more is less. The physical ability to learn is probably hardly impacted.
      - quietbritishjim 5y ago
        That's a nice idea but definitely not reality. Just try learning a language at different stages of life. I guess you could argue it's still the responsibilities holding you back but the difference is so stark that it's clear it's not just that.
        cyberlurker 5y ago
        Learning a new language after decades of reinforcing the knowledge of a native language is hard. I’ve attempted multiple times. Personally, I don’t think it has much to do with physical ability as much as baggage from the previous language. I am right handed. Learning to write neatly with my left hand would be difficult too. I don’t think my brain is less capable of doing it though.
systemvoltage 5y ago
The B-2 Spirit is insane. People usually know the SR-71, but I personally think the B-2 is straight up savage - aesthetically alien, impossibly aerial, and incomprehensibly powerful. Its silhoutte is terrifying: https://i.imgur.com/WqMvxXg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WqMvxXg.jpg What a beast: https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-2-stealth-bomber/ https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-2-stealth-b...
- Phrodo_00 5y ago
  That's while probably really effective at its job, it's not really the most of anything. The B-1B for example is faster and can carry more ordinance.
  - systemvoltage 5y ago
    B-1B is not as stealthy. B-2 Spirit is in a different league along with the F-117. Also I learned something new: It's not 'ordinance', but 'ordnance'[1]. Almost looks like a spelling mistake. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance
    - jlkuester7 5y ago
      Mind=blown. I have been saying this wrong for so long!
  - bnastic 5y ago
    It's effective enough to have bombed the shit out of a chinese embassy in '99. Look it up.
    - hutzlibu 5y ago
      And embassies in foreign lands are usually very well defended against bomb raids?
      - nine_k 5y ago
FearlessNebula 5y ago
They have a radar cross section of a large bird

geph2021 5y ago

And The B-2s are apparently stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base[1]. Just due south of the image. Perhaps lining up for a landing approach? 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteman_Air_Force_Base https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteman_Air_Force_Base

bcrosby95 5y ago

My father-in-law helped design the pilot seat for that. Unfortunately he was unable to make the transition to computer aided design. After the defense cutbacks in the 90s, he could only find minimum wage jobs for the rest of his working life.

abhiminator 5y ago
>After the defense cutbacks in the 90s, he could only find minimum wage jobs for the rest of his working life. That's unfortunate to hear. Hope he's doing well now, in his retirement life.
- bcrosby95 5y ago
  Of course he's doing well, he has the best son-in-law ever ;) Jokes aside, he's doing fine. They got by on my mother-in-law's teacher salary and were lucky enough to get in on the California housing game in the early '80s. They mostly don't have to worry about the bills, and all their kids live within 15 minutes of them - we see them around 1-2x per week. And if they ever did run into issues, one of us could take them in. I just like to keep it in mind because I've been subject to fairly good fortunes when it comes to career. Same thing with all my relatives. But my wife's family has had more bumps along the way.
PostOnce 5y ago
In case anyone else is reading and thinking of that predicament, it needn't be a showstopper. You have a couple of options: You can do it the old way, and pay someone to convert it into the new way (I know a mechanical engineer who either sketches things or does 2D on a computer, and pays someone else to 3D it) which can then be sent to the client or manufacturer or whatever. Or, if you're doing the whole product to sell, you can do it however you want, no one cares how their product was designed, just that the end product is good. I don't know how the housing on the monitor I'm looking at was designed, and I don't care, I just care that it's decent. I feel like I count rant about this for a while, but all the "rules" change if you're taking clients or customers and not looking for FTE. It's got its own challenges, but with a few good / high paying clients, it's even easier than FTE, you can grow or not if you want.
- a2800276 5y ago
  Not sure if the Air Force will buy bomber seats from the back of a truck of some guy who designs them with paper and pencil.
  - PostOnce 5y ago
    If not, the defense contractor will subcontract to you and mark it up 4000% :) Also, the government generally has policies that some % of things have to come from small businesses, sometimes they'll hire you just in order to check a box, I'd guess. Nevertheless, if you can design an airplane seat, there are other customers than the air force. Lots of niche machines are made by 3 or 4 people and sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit, to farms, to factories, to anyone in business. Consumers will argue with you for a week over a $10 purchase, but people buying things to make money with won't bat an eye at $10,000. There's a great big world out there and every hurdle doesn't have to be jumped, you can just walk around it half the time.
FearlessNebula 5y ago
Could he not take a class or an apprenticeship for CAD?
- Skunkleton 5y ago
  My dad went through a similar transition. In his case, the world transitioned away gradually from his skill set. He was able to continue moving to new jobs that needed his legacy skill set, until eventually he couldn't find them easily anymore. By the time he was in this predicament, he couldn't find a a path to restart his education. The critical issue was employment, once he found a job, the critical issue was working and keeping that job. He didn't have the luxury of taking the time to build a new skillset.
- xvector 5y ago
  Learning things becomes much harder when you are older. Our brains are physically less receptive to the process of learning.
  - cyberlurker 5y ago
    I don’t think this is true. I think responsibilities pile up and/or the need to learn more is less. The physical ability to learn is probably hardly impacted.
    - quietbritishjim 5y ago
      That's a nice idea but definitely not reality. Just try learning a language at different stages of life. I guess you could argue it's still the responsibilities holding you back but the difference is so stark that it's clear it's not just that.
      - cyberlurker 5y ago
        Learning a new language after decades of reinforcing the knowledge of a native language is hard. I’ve attempted multiple times. Personally, I don’t think it has much to do with physical ability as much as baggage from the previous language. I am right handed. Learning to write neatly with my left hand would be difficult too. I don’t think my brain is less capable of doing it though.

systemvoltage 5y ago

The B-2 Spirit is insane. People usually know the SR-71, but I personally think the B-2 is straight up savage - aesthetically alien, impossibly aerial, and incomprehensibly powerful. Its silhoutte is terrifying: https://i.imgur.com/WqMvxXg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WqMvxXg.jpg What a beast: https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-2-stealth-bomber/ https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/b-2-stealth-b...

Phrodo_00 5y ago
That's while probably really effective at its job, it's not really the most of anything. The B-1B for example is faster and can carry more ordinance.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  B-1B is not as stealthy. B-2 Spirit is in a different league along with the F-117. Also I learned something new: It's not 'ordinance', but 'ordnance'[1]. Almost looks like a spelling mistake. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance
  - jlkuester7 5y ago
    Mind=blown. I have been saying this wrong for so long!
- bnastic 5y ago
  It's effective enough to have bombed the shit out of a chinese embassy in '99. Look it up.
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    And embassies in foreign lands are usually very well defended against bomb raids?
    - nine_k 5y ago

FearlessNebula 5y ago

They have a radar cross section of a large bird