Pilot Error Blamed For Fatal California U2 Spy Plane Crash

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The U.S. Air Force says pilot error forced two airmen to eject from a U2 spy plane while on a training mission from a Northern California base in September, killing one of them. The Air Force released findings of its probe of the crash near Sutter, California on Wednesday. Air Force Major A.J. Schrag said investigators found that a pilot who was learning to fly the aircraft either pulled back too fast or too quickly on his stick while learning to recover from a stall. That caused the plane to go into a secondary stall that forced him and his instructor, Lt. Col. Ira S. Eadie, to eject. Investigators determined Eadie suffered fatal injuries when his seat struck the plane’s right wing. The spy plane had left from Beale Air Force Base about 50 miles north of Sacramento.

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