Posted on 03/26/2009 12:49:54 PM PDT by BenLurkin
EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin pilot was killed Wednesday when an F-22A fighter jet on a test mission from Edwards Air Force Base crashed near a desert gunnery range 35 miles northeast of Edwards.
David Cooley, 49, of Lancaster, a Gulf War veteran who had been a Lockheed Martin test pilot since 2003 and before that spent 21 years in the Air Force, was taken by rescue crews to Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, where he was pronounced dead.
Cooley's death was Edwards' first in a test flight in eight years.
"This is a very difficult day for Edwards and those who knew and respected Dave as a warrior, test pilot and friend," said Maj. Gen. David Eichhorn, Air Force Flight Test Center commander. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Dave and his family as we struggle through, and do all we can to support them."
Nicknamed "Cools," Cooley worked as a test pilot at the F-22 Combined Test Force, where a team of Lockheed Martin and Air Force pilots test the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's top-of-the-line fighter.
Cooley was a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, in which he flew F-117 stealth fighters. In 2007, as Lockheed Martin's F-117 chief test pilot, he made the last F-117 flight by a Lockheed Martin pilot. He was a frequent speaker at Antelope Valley schools, telling students about the importance of education as well as about his flying career.
"I've always known him to be a great man and a great father," said Lancaster Vice Mayor Ron Smith, who met Cooley after moving into the same Lancaster neighborhood in 1998.
"This is a great loss for our city and our country."
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
Bummer. He must have ejected however, if there was enough left of him to be “pronounced dead.”
They could not have taken him to a worse hospital.
Whoa! That makes about five plane crashes in the last week or so. What’s going on?
A brave, honorable warrior and his family have sacrificed much for our nation. I am sorry for the loss and the pain they are suffering.
“They could not have taken him to a worse hospital.”
Not a great hospital, for sure, but they did save my wife’s life in ‘93.
We left the area in ‘97, has it gotten that bad?
http://www.vvch.org/medical-staff
holy crap, is that a joke? wow.
a sad day. test pilots know the risks.
RIP Cools
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