F-22A Fighter Jet Crashes Near Edwards Air Force Base

[Reason]

F-22A Fighter Jet Crashes Near Edwards Air Force Base

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh0TktC1nZM

WTF is with all the plane crashes recently??? :confused:

[Danke]

Happened at the dry lake bed area, probably a controlled ejection and/or landing gear problem.

[Uriel999]

my guess is due to the $$$$ problem, airplanes are getting neglected with maintenance. Or its just the cool thing to do lately?

[Brian4Liberty]

That sucks. Hope the pilot is ok.

One of those planes runs about $150 million? That's painful when one of those go down. Costs about the same as an AIG bonus...

[He Who Pawns]

It boggles my mind that Dems are trying to kill this fighter. The fucker has been in the works for like 25 years. We've already spent tens of billions on it, and now they want to cut it??

They say, "Well we don't need it right now." The point is, we might need it 10 years from now, against a different type of enemy, like China for instance.

[jdmyprez_deo_vindice]

[B][SIZE="4"]

WTF is with all the plane crashes recently???

They are just practicing a new maneuver called "value of the dollar".

[Reason]

They are just practicing a new maneuver called "value of the dollar".

lol

[sailor]

Overpriced plane. I bet 80% of its cost is pork one way or the other.

[SWATH]

weight 40,000lb
cost $150,000,000

$237/oz.

It's not quite as expensive as if it were solid gold, but it is about 15 times more expensive than if it were solid silver.

[He Who Pawns]

weight 40,000lb
cost $150,000,000

$237/oz.

It's not quite as expensive as if it were solid gold, but it is about 15 times more expensive than if it were solid silver.

so what, most good camera lenses cost more than their weight in gold.

[Anti Federalist]

so what, most good camera lenses cost more than their weight in gold.

Camera lenses don't weigh 20 tons.

[LATruth]

Its cheaper than primo pot. :cool:

[diggronpaul]

Exorbitant military spending was always mostly a technique for squandering the public wealth and keeping the USA weak. This is consistent with this project.

US military is deliberately being degraded, demoralized and deconstructed. This is consistent with Congress' pending action to cease this program.

US military technology is being transferred to China, one way or the other (eg Clinton technology transfer of our nuclear propulsion system to China). These efforts continue and this latest crash and economic crisis will only expedite these movements.

[akihabro]

They must have had a FedEx pilot.

[Reason]

looks like the pilot was killed :(

International Herald Tribune
Air Force F-22 crashes in California, pilot killed

The Associated Press
Thursday, March 26, 2009

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California: An F-22A Raptor, the Air Force's top-of-the line fighter jet, crashed Wednesday in a remote area of the Mojave Desert, killing a test pilot for prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

The jet crashed at 10 a.m. about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Edwards, a vast unpopulated area of flat desert.

The pilot was David Cooley, 49, a 21-year Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed Martin in 2003, the company said in a statement. The company did not release any details of the accident or say whether or not Cooley attempted to eject.

Cooley was part of a team of company and Air Force pilots who conduct F-22 testing.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of David and our concerns, thoughts and prayers at this time are with his family," the statement said.

Sam Grizzle, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., said no additional information would be released.

Air Force Maj. David Small said the jet, assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron of Edwards' 412th Test Wing, was on a test mission but he did not know its nature.

F-22s were grounded for two weeks after one crashed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in December 2004. They were cleared again to fly after a review, and an Air Force statement at the time said officials were "highly confident in the design, testing and development" of the aircraft. The pilot in that crash successfully ejected.

Designed for air dominance, the radar-evading stealthy F-22s each cost $140 million. The warplanes can carry air-to-air missiles but are capable of ground attack as well.

The $65 billion F-22 program is embattled, with some opponents contending that a different warplane under development, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is more versatile and less costly at $80 million per plane.

The U.S. is committed to 183 F-22, down from the original plan laid out in the 1980s to build 750.

Its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., says there are 95,000 jobs at 1,000 companies connected to the F-22.

Lockheed is trying to convince the Pentagon to buy as many as 20 more F-22. The military is expected to signal if it wants more when the 2010 Defense Department budget is released next month.

The F-22 is able to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners. That allows it to reach and stay in a battlespace faster and longer without being easily detected.

The fighter, powered by two Pratt & Whitney engines, is 62 feet (19 meters) long, has a wingspan of 44.5 feet (13.5 meters) and is flown by a single pilot.