Posted on 08/03/2009 8:23:02 PM PDT by BenLurkin
EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin test pilot died in an F-22A crash after nearly losing consciousness during a high-speed, high-g test maneuver, according to an Air Force accident investigation report released Friday.
The $140 million jet, assigned to Edward Air Force Base's 412th Flight Test Wing, crashed during a mission to test the effects of carrying weapons on the aircraft's performance. These tests involved a series of high-speed, high-performance maneuvers in which the pilot experienced several times the force of gravity.
The accident investigation concluded that Cooley experienced such disorientation brought on by the high g-forces, and recovered too late - a matter of seconds - to safely right the aircraft as it was headed down in an almost vertical dive, the report said.
The crash occurred after Cooley successfully completed the first two of the planned test maneuvers, which required inverting the airplane and flying the lower half of a loop, pulling up and righting the airplane.
On the third test maneuver, however, he failed to recover at the same point and continued in a 83-degree downward dive. According to the report, a "weak roll to wings level was started at (about 16,300 feet) but at this point, with the extreme nose down attitude, the roll was simply a pirouette around the vertical axis with little effect on arresting the descent rate."
By the time the aircraft was about 5,000 feet above the ground, Cooley had the wings level, but it was still heading down roughly at a 50 degree-angle.
Cooley ejected at approximately 3,900 feet above the ground and at Mach 1.3, or 880 mph, according to the report. This was about 170 mph above the maximum speed design limits for the ejection seat.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
Roger that. :-)
Sorry for your loss, for his family’s and all who knew him. Takes very special people to do that work.
That would take some pretty significant thought augmentation.
Ever read “Dune”?
No, what’s that about?
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