6/8/2005 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- A flight control system problem caused an F/A-22 Raptor to crash on the runway at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., on Dec. 20, according to an Air Force report released June 8.

The pilot ejected and sustained minor injuries. The $133.3-million aircraft, assigned to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis, was destroyed when it crashed. Additional damage was limited to an arresting cable, runway guide sign, runway light and the runway itself.

The flight control system malfunction was caused by a brief power interruption to the aircraft’s three rate sensor assemblies, which caused them to fail. The assemblies measure angular acceleration in all three axes: pitch, roll and yaw. With three failed assemblies, the F/A-22 is not able to fly, investigators said.

When the pilot shut down engines for maintenance servicing, he left the auxiliary power unit running. Based on technical order guidance, he believed the power unit would supply continuous power to the flight control system. However, there was a less-than-one second power interruption to the assemblies during engine shutdown.

There is no automatic warning of this condition. To discover it, the pilot would have had performed a diagnostic test. The pilot accomplished a successful test before engine shutdown, and because the power unit was on, he believed a second test was unnecessary. (Courtesy of Air Combat Command News Service)

Sounds like a "Bold Face" addition to the checklist may be called for.

no need to worry too much about the expense, we finance our aircraft and insure them the same we do our automobiles, it's been taken care of.

To tell you the truth Falcon Fixer, I'm not certain how this works, but there must be a provisions account for circumstances involving accidents during test and training, I believe another service with another high risk aircraft had insurance (provisions for funding) for an aircraft that was high risk even though it was already beyond testing phase.

Common sense would tell you if you are financing aircraft, even military aircraft, you need insurance of some type. We don't buy aircraft off the shelf, nobody can. Aircraft Manufacturing Companies would go out of business as soon as the last order was placed, and that is not always the truth, military or commercial.

but I just wish we could've learned this in a less expensive way!!!

Hmmm - I've never seen the line item for aircraft insurance in any DoD budget....I'm pretty sure USAF is self-insured. Just like the airlines are. I don't remember us getting a check for the last two 16's we lost either.

An interesting case.

Lockheed crashed a CD model in the Mid 90's. The crash Lockheeds fault and the aircraft was never delivered to the AF. The AF still paid for the A/C minus the "deductible".