David Cooley Was Test Pilot For Lockheed Martin

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 03.25.09 2230 EDT: Officials have identified the pilot killed when a Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor crashed near Edwards Air Force Base Wednesday morning.

David Cooley, 49, was a 21-year Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed Martin in 2003. He was stationed at Edwards as part of a Lockheed contingent involved with testing the advanced fighter aircraft.

"This is a very difficult day for Edwards and those who knew and respected Dave as a warrior, test pilot and friend," Maj. Gen. David Eichhorn, commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, told The Associated Press.

Few details are available regarding the circumstances surrounding the crash, which occurred at approximately 10:00 am PDT. Authorities did not state whether Cooley ejected from the aircraft.

The stricken Raptor impacted about 35 miles northeast of Edwards, in a dry lake bed near Hinkley, CA.

Original Reports

03.25.09 1500 EDT (UPDATED 1600 EDT): Aero-News has learned an F-22A Raptor has crashed near Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ann Stefanek confirmed the accident to The Associated Press.

A second USAF spokesman, Maj. David Small, said the jet was assigned to the 412th Test Wing at Edwards, and was on an unspecified test mission when it went down.

There are conflicting reports as to the location of the accident, reports the Barstow Desert Dispatch. The California Highway Patrol said the plane came down in the Harper Dry Lake region near Hinkley, almost directly due east of Edwards, while Air Force sources say the crash site is further north.

At this time, there is no information about the status of the single-seat fighter's pilot.

To date, there has been just one F-22 accident that resulted in the loss of the airframe -- a December 2004 takeoff crash, later attributed to the unprecedented failure of the test aircraft's advanced electronic control systems. The pilot was able to safely eject from that stricken plane.

Thursday's accident comes at a delicate time for the F-22 program, as manufacturer Lockheed Martin awaits word from the Obama White House on whether more funding will be allocated to continue production of the $140 million fighters, past the 183 planes currently budgeted. Of those, about 135 have been delivered.

The USAF originally planned to buy 750 of the stealthy aircraft, but Air Force leaders have met stiff resistance to that plan from the Pentagon. Many military leaders would prefer the USAF instead purchase greater quantities of the less capable -- but also much less expensive, at around $80 million apiece -- F-35 Lightning II, which is still in testing.

"The timing isn't great for the aircraft's advocates, but I can't imagine one crash being an effective argument against additional procurement," Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia told Bloomberg. "I can't think of a modern-generation fighter that hasn't crashed either in operational use or in testing."

This is a breaking news story. ANN will have more information as it becomes available.

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