Mysterious flying wing over the Philippines ?

Hello everyone,

It is pretty recent but it seems that a black flying wing have been spotted over the phillipines this morning by a photographer.

Here are the details :
-Taken 2 days ago (thursday, 2nd 2021) at 6:15 am local time, so early in the morning.
-Location : Santa Magdalena, Philippines
-Camera and lens used : Fujifilm XT2 + a 50-200mm lens
-Author : Michael Fugnit (I'll post his social media on the bottom of the post), he seems to be a professional photographer.


So here is the picture :



The quality comes from Facebook, so the quality could be better, I messaged the author to ask him if he could share me the raw picture or at least in a higher quality. If he does I will post it here.

So my personnal thought : at first I thought "oh nice a B2", but then when looking closer it didn't seem to match. The wing doesn't look the same, the fuselage/exhaust also, and it seems to be twin engine.

So here is the facebook profile of the author of the picture :
www.facebook.com...

Thank you for reading me !

I also edited a little the lighting, contrast and colors to make the aircraft more visible.

a reply to: Ghoul

I'm thinking B2 STEALTH BOMBER.

Look at the top view and compare:
www.google.com...

Cool catch!

⭐+🇺🇲

Yeah I agree. Looks like a B2 to me.

a reply to: EternalShadow

Could be.

But the wings look longer in proportion to the body in the picture than the B-2. Could just be the angle of the picture I guess.

ETA - Looks more like an RQ-170 to me. What's throwing me off is the double contrail. The RQ-170 only has a single engine.

a reply to: EternalShadow

Well when I'm looking at other pictures of B2 in the contrails and from below, it doesn't really look the same to me. And once again the wing and fuselage doesn't match

B2 also from below in contrails :

a reply to: EternalShadow

That's a B-21

Seems that it would have been pretty noisy. Any talk on the noisyness of the plane?

a reply to: musicismagic

I don't know about that. The author didn't mention anything regarding the noise.

a reply to: Violater1

I think you win!

It does fit the profile, good call.

a reply to: EternalShadow

I'm quite sure other platform like the RQ-180 or many other use a flying wing or crank kite design

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I think what looks like two contrails may be an artifact and not actually two engines. The wings do not look like a B2 but rather the RQ. I've got some photos of a B2 I took that I'll attempt to upload later today.

originally posted by: musicismagic
Seems that it would have been pretty noisy. Any talk on the noisyness of the plane?

I don't know why this myth is so popular that you can hear airplanes flying overhead. When I can see contrails coming from the aircraft flying overhead, usually I can't hear the aircraft, because contrails typically form at higher altitudes (maybe above 26,000 feet), and at that distance, the noise level is so minimal that if you live in a city like I do, the background noise of the city masks whatever low noise level might have reached the ground, so you literally can't hear the plane.

Of course you can hear the closer (lower altitude) planes, but it's unusual for the contrails to form at lower altitudes, because they require particular conditions which are more common at higher altitudes.

There was a famous incident in Phoenix where some planes flew by and most people in the city who reported seeing them could not hear the planes at all, because the city background noise was higher than the noise coming from the planes. Only a few people in the more remote areas said they could hear the planes, probably because the background noise level was lower, but those planes were not flying high enough to make contrails. There are other factors besides altitude and background noise, like wind and other atmospheric conditions, that determine whether you can hear the planes.

Why sometimes we can't hear an airplane's sound? In my area those planes which leave a contrail behind fly silently. What could be the reason?

Airplanes fly very high in the air. Sound pressure level decreases, the further away you are from the source.
...
All the way at ground level, the sound pressure level would be about 48db, which is audible, but it's pretty close to the base noise level in many areas outside. So if there is any sound in your environment, from wind, birds chirping, cars in the distance, kids screaming at the playground a quarter mile away, and such, there is not much chance you will hear the airplane. In a city you wouldn't notice it, but if you're in a still meadow with no animals or wind you would hear it.

originally posted by: Violater1
a reply to: EternalShadow

That's a B-21

I can see a resemblance there. I'm not sure what other planes might be shaped like that though.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

That’s funny because I live in a very quiet place, and when it is dead silent I can hear in the background airliners when they’re cruising, between 30k and 40k ft.
I could also hear some fighter jet cruising cruising at 42 000ft.

I guess it all depends on how quiet is the place you’re at. But in a populated area or city, yeah there’s no way to hear them.

a reply to: Violater1

I'd go RQ-180 before B-21. Long way from Palmdale, and very close to Chinese radars, for a test article.

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

It would seems more probable yes, the B-21 haven't flown yet and probably will roll out with a public announcement like the B2.
So the idea of the 180 seems coherent but I think it is not in test anymore and is operational for a couple of years now.
But it could also be something completely different ^^

originally posted by: Ghoul
a reply to: Arbitrageur

That’s funny because I live in a very quiet place, and when it is dead silent I can hear in the background airliners when they’re cruising, between 30k and 40k ft.
I could also hear some fighter jet cruising cruising at 42 000ft.

I guess it all depends on how quiet is the place you’re at. But in a populated area or city, yeah there’s no way to hear them.

Yes, it doesn't surprise me you can hear them in a quiet place, but even when you can hear them, would you describe them as "pretty noisy" as when MiM said "Seems that it would have been pretty noisy."? When I've heard them in quiet places, I still wouldn't say they were "pretty noisy", maybe I even had to strain a bit to hear them at all, or could only hear them when the birds stopped singing.

originally posted by: Ghoul
a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

It would seems more probable yes, the B-21 haven't flown yet and probably will roll out with a public announcement like the B2.
So the idea of the 180 seems coherent but I think it is not in test anymore and is operational for a couple of years now.
But it could also be something completely different ^^

I see the similarity with the RQ-180 too, but I don't know how many other aircraft might have a similar appearance.

The distant photos tend to be a little fuzzy, which doesn't help in identification, but that's a fuzzy photo of the RQ-180 for comparison.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Oh yeah not at all, it is just a slight noise you can hear in the background.

The picture of the grey UAV is not the RQ-180 tho, it was a P-175 polecat It have been well explained/debunked in another thread
But we can see obvious similarities tho, which is not surprising for a stealth HALE uav.

By the looks of the distance in the sky and the contrails , it gave me the impression that there would be an a noise level to be heard.

I live under the path of US military airplanes, although I can't see them, I sure can hear them at times and I don't live in a big city. Maybe that's why.

Tyler Rogoway just wrote an article about it on the war zone

www.thedrive.com...