8-Sept-2017 - Pilot Dies in 'Classified' Plane Crash at Nevada Training Range

[Boxman]

There are still brave test pilots risking their lives piloting machines of types and capabilities that may not be revealed for years. Hopefully, someday, Col. Schultz's story, and what he was testing when he lost his life, will eventually be told.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/09/08/airman-dies-another-plane-crash-nevada-training-range.html
Pilot Dies in 'Classified' Plane Crash at Nevada Training Range
by Oriana Pawlyk and Brendan McGarry - 8 September 2017
Military.com

A pilot was killed in another plane crash this week at the Nevada Test and Training Range, the Air Force said.

Lt. Col. Eric Schultz died from injuries sustained in an accident in which an aircraft crashed around 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday at the range, located about 100 miles northwest of Nellis Air Force Base, according to a release from the base issued Friday evening.

The aircraft, the type of which wasn't specified, was assigned to Air Force Materiel Command and was flying a training mission at the time of the mishap, the release states.

"Information about the type of aircraft involved is classified and not releasable," Maj. Christina Sukach, chief of public affairs for the 99 Air Base Wing at Nellis, said in an email.

In an article on the website of The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, Schultz was identified as a 1991 graduate of Annapolis High School and a former civilian test pilot who received multiple graduate degrees before joining the Air Force in 2001.

Schultz in 2011 was also named the 28th pilot to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a stealthy fifth-generation fighter jet made by Lockheed Martin Corp., according to information released by the Air Force and the manufacturer.

*** COMPLETE STORY LINKED AT TITLE ***

 

[seruriermarshal]

Maybe a MIG .

 

[Flyaway]

The fact that it was an hour before sunset local time I believe suggests it wasn't anything really exotic.

R.I.P. Lt. Col. Eric Schultz.

 

[lowchi]

Maybe a MIG .

Could be.

Apparently there was no NOTAM for this accident. Maybe a crash landing at groom or KTNX?


The USAF doesnt need to issue NOTAMs for the Nevade Test Range since it is closed airspace anyway.

Thanks to @FG_STrim on twitter.

 

[fightingirish]

My prayers and thoughts are first for his family and friends.

______________________________________________________________________________

Normally I do not speculate, but here my guess, which aircraft he might have being flying.
1. F-117 (Stealth or radar Tests and Training)
2. Mig-21/-27/-29 or Su-27 (Training for a DPRK war scenario)
3. F-35 ( kept classified for politics i.e budget dealings, debt ceiling etc.)
4. unknown and classified black aircraft system

 

[Flyaway]

My prayers and thoughts are first for his family and friends.

______________________________________________________________________________

Normally I do not speculate, but here my guess, which aircraft he might have being flying.
1. F-117 (Stealth or radar Tests and Training)
2. Mig-21/-27/-29 or Su-27 (Training for a DPRK war scenario)
3. F-35 ( kept classified for politics i.e budget dealings, debt ceiling etc.)
4. unknown and classified black aircraft system

2 seems most likely. 1 I don't think so as the F-117 is no longer classified & they haven't gone out of the way to hide the fact it's still flying. F-35 seems very unlikely as I don't believe they'd cover it up. 4 is unlikely for the reason I gave above.

 

[lowchi]

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein, while traveling Saturday morning to the annual conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Louisville, Ky., ruled out speculation the aircraft involved may have been an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
"I can definitely say it was not an F-35," he told a Military.com reporter accompanying him on the trip.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/09/08/airman-dies-another-plane-crash-nevada-training-range.html

 

[Flyaway]

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein, while traveling Saturday morning to the annual conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Louisville, Ky., ruled out speculation the aircraft involved may have been an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
"I can definitely say it was not an F-35," he told a Military.com reporter accompanying him on the trip.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/09/08/airman-dies-another-plane-crash-nevada-training-range.html

Glad that had been said as the last thing we need is people making political capital out of this unfortunate fellow's death.

 

[Flyaway]

Spotted on Twitter.

Stephen Trimble @FG_STrim
There's a problem with Constant Peg theory. TAC (ACC) owned Constant Peg aircraft, not AFSC (AFMC). 5 Sep crash involved AFMC-owned plane.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FG_STrim/status/906575820646486016

Stephen Trimble @FG_STrim
Replying to @cencio4 and 4 others
Jamie Hunter says Flankers are AFMC-owned.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FG_STrim/status/906594914640777217

 

[Flyaway]

Stephen Trimble @FG_STrim
The family of Eric Schultz, the USAF test pilot killed in 5 Sept crash, has set up a Memorial Family Fund here.

Link on the tweet.

https://twitter.com/x/status/906952224378703873

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/FG_STrim/status/906952224378703873

 

[Flyaway]

Fatal Nevada Crash Involved Foreign Aircraft Type

LOS ANGELES—A Sept. 5 accident at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) that killed a U.S. Air Force test pilot appears to have involved a foreign aircraft type operated by the service’s secretive Red Hat ...

Comair | Aviation Week Network

Air Line Pilots Association: Comair pilots went on strike March 26, and the airline is not operating. All flights are canceled through April 5. No talks have been scheduled.

m.aviationweek.com

 

[Q-nimbus]

*Bump*

Anything new on this crash?

I’m a bit surprised by the lack of posts about this subject; only a dozen posts about a crash of a genuine secret aircraft.

 

[Foo Fighter]

All I found was a suggestion that he was an F-35 test pilot but the aircraft was not an F-35. Apparently the aircraft was under the control of the materiel command but a lot does so no clearer than mud.

 

[Jason Dykstra (Wyvern)]

Could it be possible that it is some sort of utility aircraft being used for a classified purpose? I doubt it, my theory is that it's some sort of aircraft like a MiG-29 or Su-27 being tested that was training aggressor pilots, and crashed.

 

[TomcatViP]

@Q-nimbus : it's difficult to discuss without much elements. He could have flown anything ranging from any exotic platform we can imagine to a fairly mundane T-38.
T-38s do crash also, sadly.

 

[Q-nimbus]

@Q-nimbus : it's difficult to discuss without much elements. He could have flown anything ranging from any exotic platform we can imagine to a fairly mundane T-38.
T-38s do crash also, sadly.

That would surprise me, because right from the beginning they wouldn't say which type of aircraft was involved, and they even acknowledged the type was classified:

"Information about the type of aircraft involved is classified and not releasable," Maj. Christina Sukach, chief of public affairs for the 99 Air Base Wing at Nellis, said in an email.

Why would they do that if an known aircraft type was involved? Even if they were testing classified new systems, revealing the type of aircraft would do no harm. The location of the crash, between Groom Lake and Tonopah also raises questions, as does the fact that Lt. Col. Eric Schult was a test pilot, rumored but unverified to be the former commander of the Red Hats...

 

[RavenOne]

Could it be possible that it is some sort of utility aircraft being used for a classified purpose? I doubt it, my theory is that it's some sort of aircraft like a MiG-29 or Su-27 being tested that was training aggressor pilots, and crashed.

Remember the late TAC General Bobby Bond killed in Red Hats / Red Eagles Mig 23 in 80s? Initially most thought he was flying the 117....then it transpired he got confided to took up one of the Mig 23 , did not grasp the limitations of the Flogger and down he went tragically.

Anyhow just throwing this out in the open so Could this Pilot be flying say one of the former Moldovan Mig 29 acquired 2 decades earlier seen loaded on board a C-5B over there.

Wonder how many cough cough FTD aircrAct left in the inventory ...

Mig 29
SU-27
Mig 21
Mig 23

etc etc

If it was not the above then what exotic was he flying

Apart from the B-21 Raider and the usaf claiming they have flown in secret a Next Generation fighter ...what other (manned preferably)rojects are rumored To be going on?

cheers

 

[seruriermarshal]

I believe that's a Su-27

 

[Dynoman]

Upcoming discussion on Col. Eric Schultz

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zidJB6qxlKs

 

[Dynoman]

The patch says "Ex Tenebris ad Lucem" (i.e. Light from Darkness) and Alis Novis Volabimus" (i.e. We will fly with new wings).

The bear is indicative of the Russian Bear and the Red Hat is perched on the last star. There are seven stars. Usually, there are six. Five and one, indicating Area 51. Five and two stars may indicate Area 52, often known as TTR.

 

[dan_inbox]

"Ex Tenebris ad Lucem" (i.e. Light from Darkness)

From the little Latin I remember, it is more "out of darkness towards the light".

 

[Dreamfighter]

"Ex Tenebris ad Lucem" (i.e. Light from Darkness)

From the little Latin I remember, it is more "out of darkness towards the light".

That is correct, "From the Darkness to(wards) the Light"
"ex tenebris" = "from the darkness"
"ad lucem" = "to(wards) the light"

The other one - as Dynoman wrote - "We Will Fly with New Wings".
"novis volis" = "with new wings"
"volabimus" = "we will fly"