A veteran USA air force pilot was killed and his trainee co-pilot seriously injured when one of America’s 32 surviving U-2 spy planes crashed.
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Eadie was assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, Beale Air Force Base, Calif. and was on a training mission with another pilot when the two-seater U-2 crashed, officials report. The senior pilot was a lieutenant-colonel.
“I would match the safety and maintenance records of a U-2 with any other aircraft the Air Force flies”.
All day military investigators have been combing the crash scene for any clues as to why the plane crashed into the Sutter Buttes.
Base officials said another pilot who survived sustained injuries that are not life-threatening and is in good condition at a local medical facility.
Beale AFB officials have made a decision to ground all U-2 planes as a safety precaution as the investigation continues.
The veteran grew up in Florida, but was stationed at Beale Air Force base for the past six years.
The Air Force said the plane was conducting a training mission on a routine flight path before something went wrong and the high-flying aircraft slammed into a mountainous area about 20 miles west of the runway.
But Col. Danielle Barnes said Wednesday she could not discuss what caused one pilot to die in Tuesday’s incident.
The Air Force completed its initial response to the crash around 4 p.m. Tuesday. The U-2 also gained fame for uncovering secretive Soviet launch site in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
There have been a handful of crashes since the U-2 began flying in the 1950s.
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An American U-2 Dragon Lay spy aircraft has crashed near Sacramento, California, killing one of its two pilots. The U-2 spy planes will reportedly cease operations in 2019 because of the military’s preference for unmanned aircraft for collecting intelligence.
