Warbird Information Exchange

Fate of pilot unknown.

http://www.kctv5.com/news/19011980/detail.html

Doh! Scanned for it but i missed it. Already posted.

Via AP:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD9757L8O0

Hope the pilot got out alright

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_ ... /f22_crash

Just saw news the pilot didn't make it. Details at link. Condelences to all..

Very sad about the fate of the pilot, my thoughts go to his family. RIP

From 3 Aug 09 archives:

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/DRARCH ... fault.aspx

Cause of the crash appears to be G-Loc (G induced loss of consciousness):



"The F-22 that crashed during a flight test on March 25 was working well when the pilot temporarily lost situational awareness due to high G-loading, accident investigation board president Maj. Gen. David Eidsaune said in an interview with Air Force Magazine Monday. (Daily Report's initial AIB report coverage.) The aircraft was an early test model of the Raptor and was “heavily instrumented,” he said, and much of the mission was filmed. “We looked through … hundreds of parameters,” Eidsaune said, “and there were no indications [of] … any problems with the flight controls, the engines, the avionics. Everything was working nominally on the plane.” A separate board issues safety conclusions, but no F-22s were grounded as a result of the accident. A “contributing factor” in the accident was that the pilot, Lockheed Martin test pilot David Cooley, performed an anti-G straining maneuver that was “less than optimum,” Eidsaune said. Instead of the usual series of short breaths and releases, combined with a tensing of the diaphragm, Cooley made a single long exhale. Cooley was wearing standard G-pants and not a Combat Edge suit, which gives somewhat more protection against high-G forces. He lost situational awareness and by the time he shook off the effects of the heavy Gs, it was too late to recover the aircraft, which was supersonic and pointed at the ground. Although Cooley made “the correct decision” to eject, he was outside the safe ejection parameters for the F-22, and was killed by the windblast, Eidsaune reported. At 600 knots, Cooley might have survived, but at his speed of 770 knots, his body was subjected to 60 positive Gs and then 30 negative Gs in ejecting. He was getting over a cold, but that condition wasn’t considered a factor."

Cools never had a chance of survival when he ejected. He was so far out of parameters, that it would have been a miracle if he did survive. From other published sources, the ejection was initiated at 3900' and 1.3 Mach, and he was killed virtually instantly in the ejection due to windblast and blunt force trauma.

It was a sad day for the F-22 CTF and LM, but more importantly, a huge loss for his family.

Just to set the record straight, there have been successful ejections at Mach 3+ from the SR-71. The difference is the altitude. At lower altitudes, you have a much, much higher dynamic pressure. At higher altitudes, it's much lower because of the rarefied air density. An ejection at Mach 3 at 85,000 feet is approximately equal in air pressure (which is what the human body feels) to 500 or 600 KIAS at sea level. There's a big difference there. Because he was so fast and so low, there was no way he would have survived that, unfortunately.

Yes, it's a very sad thing for the F-22 community.

Good point, but didn't the SR-71 pilots wear a special suit which gave extra protection?

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Yes, they did wear a space suit, but I doubt that afforded that much extra protection from flailing injuries. It's a "soft" suit, not a hard protective shell like the astronauts wore to the moon. It definitely helped to avoid getting killed due to the bends or decompression sickness and hypoxia, though.