US Air Force pilot dies in U-2 spy plane crash shortly after takeoff in California

ONE US pilot was killed and another injured when they ejected from a U-2 spy plane shortly before it crashed in Northern California.

ONE US pilot was killed and another injured when they ejected from a U-2 spy plane shortly before it crashed in Northern California, the US Air Force said.

The plane crashed shortly after taking off from Beale Air Force Base, 77km north of the city of Sacramento, on a training mission around 9am local time, the Los Angeles Times reported.

9th Reconnaissance Wing commander, Col. Larry Broadwell gave a statement concerning today's incident.

Any family... https://t.co/D9rlI9T7bq

— Beale Air Force Base (@9thRW) September 21, 2016

A firefighter puts water on the flames of a fire caused when a US Air Force U-2 spy plane crashed in the Sutter Butte mountains. Picture: AP / Rich Pedroncelli

The aircraft, assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, crashed in the Sutter Buttes, a mountain range about 97 kilometres north of Sacramento.

Colonel Larry Broadwell, the base commander, said the flight, including its flight path was routine before the crash. He pledged to support the family of the deceased pilot and said surveillance pilots will mourn the loss.

“These incidents, while extremely tragic and hard for us to overcome, they’re incidents that we do overcome,” Broadwell said.

“I am confident that the U-2 squadrons here and the U-2 squadrons around the world are going to come off the mat stronger than they were before.”

A US Air Force Hazmat team inspects the wreckage of a US Air Force U-2 spy plane that crashed, with one pilot killed and another injured when they ejected shortly after taking off from Beale Air Force base. Picture: AP / Rich Pedroncelli

UPDATE: Air Force now says 1 pilot killed, another injured in Northern California U-2 plane crash. https://t.co/1rbzloEJYd pic.twitter.com/99ZZ17W9HF

— SFChronicle (@sfchronicle) September 20, 2016

The U-2 Dragon Lady is a surveillance and reconnaissance plane capable of flying above 70,000 feet an extremely high altitude that’s twice as high as a typical commercial airliner flies.

The U-2 is known as one of the most difficult aircraft to fly at low altitudes due to the characteristics that allow it to travel near space, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

Beale Air Force Base is home to the Air Force’s fleet of single-seat U-2s and a double-seat variant used for training pilots to fly the specialised aircraft. It also is the base for the T-38 Talon, a training aircraft, and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance drone. It houses 4,500 military personnel, Fox News reported.

A U-2 Dragon Lady, a spy plane, came down shortly after takeoff in Sutter, north of state capital Sacramento. Picture: AFP / US AIR FORCE / SA Ramon Adelan