F-22 crash kills pilot

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An Air Force F-22 fighter jet crashed Wednesday in the Southern California desert, killing a test pilot for contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

The F-22A Raptor crashed at 10 a.m. about 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. The Bureau of Land Management identified the area as Harper Dry Lake.

The pilot was David Cooley, 49, a 21-year Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed Martin in 2003, the company said.

Cooley, of Palmdale, Calif., was part of a team of company and Air Force pilots who conduct F-22 testing. The jet was assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron of Edwards' 412th Test Wing.

The radar-evading F-22s each cost $140 million. The warplanes can carry air-to-air missiles and are capable of ground attack too.

F-22s were grounded for two weeks after one crashed at Nellis Air Force Base on Dec. 20, 2004. They were cleared to fly again after a review. The pilot, Maj. Robert Garland, successfully ejected.

Investigators determined that a power interruption of less than a second led to a flight-control software glitch that caused the Nellis jet to crash on takeoff. The interruption occurred when the F-22's engines were shut down for maintenance and power to the aircraft was being supplied by an auxiliary ground unit.

In all, 13 Raptors are assigned to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis.

Nellis spokeswoman Capt. Amanda Ferrell said the planes, which are flown also by the 433rd Weapons Squadron at Nellis, continued their missions without interruption Wednesday after the one from Edwards crashed.

Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report.