CRASH INVESTIGATION UNDER WAY.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer The unmanned spy plane that crashed Monday had been flying at about 165 mph at 41,000 feet when it went into a flat spin and slammed into a desert test range, officials said Tuesday. An accident investigation board has been put together to find a reason for the crash, which occurred while the Global Hawk was flying under control of its on-board computers. The Global Hawk, the second produced by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical aer·o·nau·tic also aer·o·nau·ti·cal adj. Of or relating to aeronautics. aer  o·nau in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , was on its ninth flight when it crashed. Starting with the
first craft's maiden flight Noun 1. maiden flight - the first flight of its kind; "the Stealth bomber made its maiden flight in 1989"flying, flight - an instance of traveling by air; "flying was still an exciting adventure for him" in February 1998 from Edwards, the two craft together had spent 114 hours in the air. A third Global Hawk is undergoing engine tests in San Diego, and two more are under construction, officials said. The plane crashed at 10:14 a.m. south of Searles Lake Searles Lake (also called Searles Dry Lake), is an evaporite basin located near the community of Trona in San Bernardino County, California. Searles Valley Minerals currently extracts 1.7 million tons of industrial minerals each year from several lakebeds within the basin. on China Lake Naval Air Warfare air warfare Military operations conducted by airplanes, helicopters, or other aircraft against aircraft or targets on the ground and in the water. Air warfare did not become important until World War I (1914–18). Center's Echo Test Range, about 50 miles northeast of Edwards. The craft had left Edwards about 20 minutes earlier on a test of its aviation electronic equipment. Shorter than an F-16 fighter but with the wingspan of a 737 jetliner, the Global Hawk is designed to range as far as 15,500 miles at heights of 65,000 feet, flying as long as 40 hours. Its radar can look through clouds to watch tanks or other targets moving on the ground, and its video camera and infrared sensors can watch an area the size of Illinois, officials said. In January, the Global Hawk won out in a budget battle over the more sophisticated and more expensive DarkStar built in Palmdale by Lockheed Martin Skunk skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. Works. |
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