F-22 crashes in California desert near air base

F-22 crashes in California desert near air base

news.yahoo.com

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An F-22 Raptor jet fighter crashed Wednesday in the high desert of Southern California, Air Force officials said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not many details yet. No confirmed loss of life or survivor. 140 million a pop. Does anyone know if they build a new one to replace this one or do we go with one fewer in the inventory?

Does anyone know the test area? Is it a range or dogfighting area? It seems I have more questions than answers at this point.

M

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I always wonder whats really going on at Edwards AFB. There is alot of secrecy surrounding the area. My father works for a consulting firm, and took several business trips to Edwards. I asked him semi-jokingly "did you see the underground bases?". Suprisingly, since he thinks anything black project is nonsense he said "No, but I don't doubt that they have them there". Anyways, this same kind of crash took place near Nellis AFB in 04', both pretty notorious bases, maybe there is some connection??

-E-

What a shame, I think thats such a beautiful plane...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d9ca92052639.jpg[/atsimg]

Hopefully the pilot is ok...

I'd hate to lose a good pilot in a training mission. These planes are crazy, I hear they can do more than the human body can survive...

Edwards is home of the 412th Test Wing. The F-22 belonged to the 411th Flight Test Squadron, which is part of the Wing. They have been weapons testing for new weapons, such as the SDB. Their more recent near loss was October 2007, when an F-22 attempted a 360 degree negative G roll with 8 SDBs in the weapons bay. The pilot had set the trim incorrectly before attempting the maneuver. The pilot wasn't even aware of the loss of power, as the engines relighted immediately, but when they analyzed the telemetry they saw the power loss.

Probably sell it to Iraq. lol
.

Originally posted by XTexan
Hopefully the pilot is ok...

I'd hate to lose a good pilot in a training mission. These planes are crazy, I hear they can do more than the human body can survive...

The chances are that he didn't make it if they haven't announced anything yet. He was only 35 miles out of the base. A helo team could have been out there in almost no time.

Originally posted by masawa
Does anyone know if they build a new one to replace this one or do we go with one fewer in the inventory?

Currently I believe some ~137 production F-22 Raptors have been delivered to the US Air Force, with total (approved) order of 187. 4 of those 187 were approved in 2008 to act as future wartime loss and attrition replacements, how timely. Also, the Congress authorized budget for the Pentagon to purchase long lead production items (to keep the line open) for an additional 20 F-22's past the 187 already approved. The Pentagon, however, decided to only purchase long lead items for an additional 4 F-22, deferring the remaining 16 to the next administration. While the USAF really needs 381, that's not likely to happen. The current Chief of Staff wants an additional 60 Raptors, however, we're almost sure to get 20 more, but much beyond that is really, really uncertain.

It's not looking good for the pilot. An article posted at 730pm EDT said that the Air Force said they weren't sure of the condition of the pilot, and weren't sure if he had been located. The crash occurred about 10am PDT, which is 12pm EDT. If they haven't found him by now, then the chances are that he went in with the bird.

reply to post by Zaphod58


That would be tragic if the pilot did not make it out alive. I have seen chatter that he was a Lockmart test pilot and not a uniform driver. Anyway, hope he didn't GLOC straight into the dirt.

EDIT: The pilot did not survive. Salute, and RIP.

The pilot flying the F-22 that crashed Wednesday morning near Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., was pronounced dead at a local hospital, officials said.

The pilot, whose name was not released, was a contractor working for Lockheed Martin, the company that manufactures the F-22. Officials didn’t say if the pilot had served in the Air Force.

The Raptor crashed at around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning about 25 miles northeast of Edwards while flying a test mission, said Gary Strasburg, an Air Force spokesman. The aircraft is based at Edwards where F-22s are tested by the 412th Training Wing.

Link

Also, the pilot's name is David Cooley (49). He was indeed a former USAF veteran having served for 21 years.

[edit on 25-3-2009 by WestPoint23]

Reports say that the chase plane didn't see what happened, but there was smoke seen near an old emergency landing field for experimental aircraft. They notified the Air Force, who told them to stay out of the area, a helicopter with a rescue team was on the way.

Lockheed Martin confirmed that pilot David Cooley, 49 was killed when the F-22 he was flying crashed near Edwards AFB. He was a 21 year veteran of the USAF and had been with Lockheed Martin since 2003.

Latest is that the pilot did not make it.

This was most likely a out of parameters test flight where they push the flight parameters to the limit to find the limits.

Kind of looks like they found one of the limits.


RIP

Not good. Losing a pilot and craft is never a good thing. He will be missed. Does anyone know if he had ejected , do domestic test pilots carry the same survival gear as deployed pilots?

reply to post by djvexd


The survival gear is packed into the ejection seat. It's standard no matter where they are.

That's crazy! I had no idea this happened today until later, I spent my whole day in Mojave, right by Edwards AFB. Driving in I didnt see anything out of the ordinary, nor did I hear anyone talking about it.

The area is incredibly remote however, I shouldnt be suprised that I didn't see anything.

Still... very sad indeed.

Makes you wonder though, what the HELL did he have to try to make the plane do before this catastrophe ?If this truely was a to the limits style test, then I wonder just what the limit was? Or perhaps the pilot reached his limit before the plane did, and lost the craft as a result ? An eye on this shall be kept.

reply to post by TrueBrit


There was an almost accident in 07 where they weren't really pushing the envelope and had a double flameout because of a trim setting. It's entirely possible that there was a physiological problem with the pilot. Or an unrelated mechanical problem with the aircraft.

The first 30 F-22s have a problem with the adhesive that attaches the RAM to the airframe. At least one of them has had a 3 foot section of RAM go through the number 1 engine. It could have happened again, only this time with the loss of the airframe.

reply to post by Zaphod58


You got a point, and thanks for aswering my question Z. You put your body in that much stress for that long (20+ years) something is bound to give. Not saying that is what it was. But worth considering. These guys are in peak physical condition pushing thier limits everytime they fly. And according to reports the F-22 pushes them pass thier breaking points sometimes. Very possible he redded-out and never recovered.

[edit on 25-3-2009 by djvexd]

reply to post by Zaphod58


:O AND THESE THINGS COST HOW MUCH ? Im amazed at the price tag if they cant even glue it together right !!! Makes you wonder from the pilot burn out angle though , when they are going to have to say "Ok now our planes are capable of breaking the pilots with too much ease. Time to build a proper tricked out intertial dampner."