Co-Owner Of AA Aerial Surveillance Company In California Was Active Member Of The Collings Foundation

A pilot involved in flying a B-25 bomber from Florida to California was fatally injured August 13 while flying a routine pipeline patrol for an aerial surveillance company he co-owned.

The pilot was Fred Lewis. He was co-owner of AA Aerial Surveillance of Vacaville, CA. The Fairfield-Sulsun, CA Daily Republic reports the Lewis was inspecting a natural gas pipeline for Pacific Gas & Electric in Butte County, CA, when the two-place airplane he was aboard went down. The accident also fatally injured 26-year-old Matthew Moody of Alamo, CA.

Lewis had just completed a ferry flight in the Collings Foundation's B-25 Mitchell bomber Tondelayo, which will be part of a fundraising campaign for the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum in California. He had flown the B-25 from Florida to Nut Tree Airport in Solano County, CA, arriving Saturday, Aug 10.

Lewis, a former Air Force pilot, had logged time in a variety of USAF transport and tanker aircraft. He had been involved with the Collings Foundation since retiring from the Air Force in 2007, and was the group's acquisition director. He was also on the Jimmy Doolittle Air & Space Museum’s board of directors. He held ratings for the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator as well as the B-25 Mitchell.

(B-25 Mitchell pictured in public domain file photo)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.collingsfoundation.org