Initially, the Air Force and the Beale Air Force Base said that two pilots had ejected the plane. The crash occurred shortly after takeoff in the Sutter Buttes, a mountain range some 97 kilometers north of Sacramento.
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The pilots, participating in a training mission, ejected from the aircraft before it plunged into grassy hills in Sutter County. The second pilot was injured. Investigators are on the scene.
The plane went down in Sutter, California, the Air Force press desk said in a tweet. 2 Pilots ejected. Updates to come.
Beale, which houses 4,500 military personnel, is home to the nation’s fleet of single-seat U-2 aircrafts and the similar double-seat model used for training pilots.
The last fatal accident involving a U-2 pilot took place in 2005, when one of the aircraft crashed near an air base in United Arab Emirates.
The U-2 Dragon Lady, which holds two crew members, is a high-altitude surveillance plane based at Beale Air Force Base in California. The U-2 provides imagery and electronic measurements, according to the Air Force. It is also the base for another training aircraft, the T-38 Talon, plus the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance drone.
U-2 planes are still flying high, after being introduced almost six decades ago.
“We are saddened by our Airman’s death & offer condolences to the family & all who are mourning this tremendous loss”, Gen. Dave Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said on Twitter.
Both pilots were safe and awaiting recovery.
“I was just passing through, I had finished a job”, said pilot Pete Spyres, a crop-dusting pilot who was flying his helicopter nearby. Jerri Vering, of Oroville, was leaving the newspaper’s office, and the plane’s wreckage hit and killed her.
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Cooper reported from Sacramento, California.
