The Anchorage Daily News reports that a federal Department of Defense inspector general is questioning an Air Force report on the cause of an F-22 Raptor crash in Alaska. The Air Force’s Accident Investigation Board report indicated that the pilot of the plane, which crashed in November of 2010, ” failed the recognize and initiate a timely dive recovery, due to unrecognized spatial disorientation. ” But in a report released this week, the inspector general says the AIB’s opinion is not supported by the facts.
The pilot of the downed plane, Captain Jeff Haney, was on a training exercise when his oxygen system shut down, but an investigation did not find a cause. Haney’s family members contested the AIB findings, saying the Air Force was blaming the pilot, but not a flaw in the plane. An Air Force task force has stood by the AIB’s findings.
