The pilot who was killed when a U-2 crashed shortly after takeoff September 20 has been identified as Lt. Col. Ira S. Eadie, according to Air Force officials.
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“I can tell you this is a somber time, but our team is very focused on the mission at hand”, said Col. Danielle Barnes, of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force base.
The second pilot, not yet identified, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and is in stable condition at a local medical facility.
Beale Air Force Base is indefinitely suspending reconnaissance flights after a deadly U-2 plane crash Tuesday morning. The U-2 is known as one of the most hard aircraft to fly at low altitudes due to the characteristics that allow it to travel near space, according to an Air Force fact sheet.
Today, the U-2 serves to provide high-altitude surveillance for the U.S. Air Force.
U-2 flights from Beale have been suspended. One pilot was killed and another injured w.
After the death in this instance, military investigators will look into whether the chute properly deployed and whether the pilot hit debris after ejecting, said Michael Barr, an aviation safety instructor at University of Southern California who flew fighter missions in Vietnam.
The aircraft was allot to 1st Reconnaissance Squadron it crashed in the Sutter Buttes, a mountain range about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Sacramento.
An American U-2 Dragon Lay spy aircraft has crashed near Sacramento, California, killing one of its two pilots.
The single-engine aircraft is manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp.
There have been a handful of crashes since the U-2 began flying in the 1950s. “In fact, we are going to continue flying U-2 missions around the world and around the clock”, said Broadwell. The U-2 also gained fame for uncovering secretive Soviet launch site in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The same base is use for the T-38 Talon for training aircraft and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance drone.
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Those two accidents broke a five-year run in which the U-2 aircraft did not experience any serious mishaps.
