B-2 Bombers over NY Hudson River Valley ... where are they based?

Factual Questions
1

I always thought the B-2 bombers, which require elaborate hangar facilities and ground crews to care for them and repair their stealth skin, etc., were based almost solely out of Missouri and the Indian Ocean isle of Diego Garcia.

But a month ago, my co-worker spotted two of them flying in the vicinity of West Point, NY. Where would they likely be based? Can they land, refuel, etc., at Stewart AFB near Newburgh (i.e., are the facilities, the necessary runway length, etc. there)? Or would they more likely just fly in from Missouri, play with the other forces training in the area, and then head back to the Midwest?

2

Due to the security around them, I’d say they were only touching the ground at the home base, getting refueled enroute to whatever they were doing up there. B-2 crews fly around the world at times to drop bombs.

3

I am, unfortunately, in the flight path of these planes in the Hudson Valley. Yes, they do fly out of Stewart AFB in Newburgh and they are training flights…this from an air traffic controller friend. They have come over my house at times when I can almost see people in it. Never fast, always slow and almost cumbersome, loud enough to stop conversation. I hear them coming 60 seconds before they appear. As they reach the approach to Stewart, they rev or reverse the engines, and the scream is hair raising.

4

B-2s are out of Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Period.

If they are anywhere else, it’s an emergency or forced landing.

5

B-2’s are also now based out of Diego Garcia (well, they land there, and take off there, and are refuled there, and rearmed, and the crews sleep there), for the first time ever.

6

Really?

That’s something I didn’t know. Thanks.

7

Pictures of the hangars at Diego Garcia

8

The B-2’s used Diego Garcia during the Afghanistan campaign too.

9

Dude, have you ever been to Virginia Beach? Try spending an evening outdoors when the F-18 pilots are practicing carrier landings. They pretty much just circle for hours, each time touching down at full power (as is the norm for carrier landings, since if you miss the cable you need all the power to take off and try again). VERY loud.

10

Just a B-2 factoid to add - the first time a B-2 landed and was on display outside the US was at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford UK in 1999. There was double fencing around it with armed guards and dogs. They had some big styrofoam ‘plugs’ in the engine outlets to keep you seeing in. Fairford is the base currently being used for the B-52 missions to Iraq.

11

So, you are telling me that for the last ten years I have been looking at a mirage over head? That each flight passing over my house is an emergency or forced landing ? Beg to differ.

12

McGuire AFB (NJ) is a major AMC hub on the East Coast. So is Dover AFB, Delaware. It is a distinct possibility these guys were landing for refueling or crew rest.

They’ve weather diverted up here to Minot AFB before, and it’s entirely possible there was something keeping them from going to Whiteman.

I wouldn’t worry about it until you see them drop something. Then I’d worry.

Tripler
Just don’t look at the big flash of light.

13

As has been previously stated, the only place you’ll find a B-2 squadron “stationed” (as in permanently) is at Whiteman AFB. This does not prevent the B-2 from being “deployed” to Diego Garcia, Guam, or wherever during an exercise or campaign.

As for the flights over Stewart in NY, here’s my guess: they are training flights, and most likely checkrides. Despite the B-2 being the latest, state of the art airplane the Air Force still has its “inertia”, “sacred cows” or whatever you want to call it. It says that certain things get done certain ways. And every Air Force pilot has to have at least one checkride every 18 months (or annually, depending on the weapon system). There are different types of checkrides - the “mission qual” checkride, which means go do your mission with an evaluator watching: ie, drop (simulated) bombs in a B-2, airdrop something in C-130, give some gas from a KC-135, fly with a knuckleheaded student in a T-1, etc.

The other checkride is the “instument/qual” checkride - ie fly your airplane with simulated emergencies (an engine out, for example) and fly instrument approaches down to minimums. This shows that AFTER you’ve done your mission and the weather turns crappy at X AFB you can still bring the airplane home safely.

These instrument/qual checkrides tend to develop a life of their own - ie the evaluators come up with a “profile” to challenge the pilot getting the checkride. The most basic tenet is that the checkride happen at someplace OTHER than the home base - after all, everyone is familiar with the approaches at (for example) Whiteman, because they fly them every time they come home. How about going to, oh let’s say…Stewart for the checkride? It’s an “unfamiliar” field, it’s still in the US and it’s in fairly uncrowded airspace so you can get the practice approaches you want.

My guess is that the B-2s in NY are doing checkrides or practicing for checkrides. I doubt if the B-2s actually park at Stewart, but rather they just land and then taxi back for another takeoff.

As for B-2s diverting due to weather, Minot, McGuire, Dover…all of these are legitimate weather alternates. The requirements for a weather alternate (military-wise, not weather-wise!) are usually less restrictive than the destination. For example, in the C-141 we could designate a civilian field (ie Philly) as an alternate if no suitable military field qualified weather-wise. I’m sure the B-2 can designate military fields without the “super-protective” B-2 hangars as an alternate and use them if the weather crumps at Whiteman.

Wow…long post. Consider yourselves experts on Air Force checkrides now!