The construction of the plane forces it to land at a relatively high speed, thus the drag chute. This one is touching down at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico after a rehearsal flight for an air show there at the end of October. Concurrent with that show was the X Prize Cup competition, which aims to prove that you don't have to work for NASA to be a rocketeer.
For all the high-tech wonders of the design, it's also true that a skinny plane is a hard plane to see (using radar or the naked eye): The low profile from the side is another aspect of the F-117's hard-to-detect radar cross-section. Speed helps, too: The F-117 flies in the "high subsonic" range. Other stealth aircraft elements can include composite materials, coatings to reflect or absorb radar signals, systems to minimize the exhaust spilling out, retractable sensors, and a bomb bay to keep ordnance inside the fuselage.
Some basic stats: The F-117 is just under 64 feet long and 13 feet tall, and has a wingspan of 43 feet, 4 inches. The power to propel the air-refuelable 26-ton aircraft comes from a pair of General Electric F404 nonafterburning engines. The Nighthawks have a ceiling of 45,000 feet, and they've been known to fly more than 18 hours nonstop (from New Mexico to Kuwait).
Photo by U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Tiffany Trojca
