Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.
An Air Force accident investigation board could determine within three months what caused an F/A-22 Raptor to crash on a runway at Nellis Air Force Base Monday afternoon.
The crash of the $133 million stealth fighter was the first major accident involving the aircraft that is being tested as a replacement for the Air Force's aging F-15 fighters.
Maj. Gen. Stephen Goldfein, commander of the Air Warfare Center, said that all Raptors at Nellis, Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and Edwards Air Force Base in California would remain grounded until investigators are sure the planes are safe to fly.
In the early stages of aircraft testing, "crashes are not uncommon," Goldfein said at a press conference Wednesday on the Nellis flight line near the wreckage of the plane. "You don't want it to happen, but it's not uncommon. I don't think the Raptor is going anywhere."
The Raptor has been controversial. Some critics question the need for a new fighter, noting the lack of enemy fighter aircraft for F-15s to engage during conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who leads the House National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations subcommittee, said that if the crash slows down the Raptor program or increases its cost, it could cause additional hearings into the program.
The Raptor that crashed was designated as No. 14, meaning it was the 14th plane passed on to the Air Force from the manufacturers, a group of companies including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney.
The plane had about 150 hours of flight time when it crashed and had been assigned to Nellis for about 18 months, Goldfein said.
The pilot, who safely ejected from the plane seconds after it took off Monday afternoon, had about 60 hours of flight time in Raptors, more than 2,000 hours of flight time in Air Force aircraft and combat experience.
The pilot is one of 14 who are charged with testing the Raptor in various combat situations over the Nevada Test and Training Range northwest of Las Vegas in order to develop tactics for the weapons system. The Air Force has not released his name.
"No pilot wants to leave his plane the way he did," Goldfein said. "I want him to be able to spend time with his family over the holiday and focus on helping with the investigation."
Goldfein said the decision not to release the pilot's name was his, and that he may decide to release the name in the future, but he saw no advantage to making the pilot's identity known now.
Following the crash, officials with Nellis' public affairs office said the pilot would not be identified because of a new regulation that requires permission from a pilot or a family members before a name is released. Nellis officials on Wednesday said that the regulation is not a factor in this crash and only applies in crashes where a fatality occurs.
Goldfein said the pilot suffered scrapes to his neck during the crash, but was otherwise fine.
The crash occurred about 3:45 p.m. on the north end of the Nellis runway. The wreckage from the crash is spread over about a half-mile long path, with the two biggest pieces of debris coming to rest at the extreme north end of the runway.
Each piece of wreckage has been marked, using global positioning technology, so that the crash site can be re-created during the course of the investigation.
Nellis' twin runways were already scheduled to close for the holiday weekend before the crash. Goldfein said he hopes to have the runways open by Monday.
Two groups of investigators will be looking at the crash in the coming weeks, Goldfein said.
A safety investigation board headed by Brig. Gen. Kurt Cichowski of the 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., will work to ensure that the Raptors are safe and find ways to ensure an accident like this doesn't occur again, Air Force officials said.
The safety investigation board's findings will not be released to the public. It normally takes about 30 days to finish an investigation.
An accident investigation board led by Col. Ted Kresge, deputy director of requirements for Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., will determine the cause of the crash. The accident investigation board's findings will be released to the public and normally take about 90 days to develop.
The F/A-22 that crashed was one of eight of the stealth fighters based at Nellis with the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron. The first Raptor assigned to Nellis arrived in January 2003.
By 2008, 17 Raptors are expected to be stationed at Nellis, and next year 17 are scheduled to be assigned to Langley as the first operational F/A-22 fighter squadron.
"I still think the Raptor will be flying out of Langley next year," Goldfein said.
By 2008, Nellis' weapons school is scheduled to begin operating the equivalent of Ph.D-level instructor training for the Raptor.
The Raptor has had one other significant incident involving a fighter being damaged. A fighter assigned to Edwards flew through another plane's jet wash and suffered some damage last year.
Also in 1992 a demonstration aircraft known as a Y/F-22, an aircraft that Goldfein said could be considered a very distant cousin to the F/A-22, crashed at Edwards.
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