Lockheed Technician Dies While Testing U-2 Helmet

A Lockheed technician suffocated at the NASA Ames Research Center when he put on a pressurized pilot’s helmet that was pumping nitrogen instead of oxygen into his lungs, a NASA spokesman reported.

Ronald Johnson, 29, an Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed last month, was found dead in a room where he conducted routine tests on the helmets worn by U-2 pilots, National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Larry King said.

Technicians use nitrogen instead of oxygen to test for leaks because of the fire danger associated with oxygen, but the routine testing does not include wearing the helmet, King said.

“He was found with the helmet on, with nitrogen flowing into the helmet,” said King. “For some reason, he put on the helmet. Nobody knows why.”

Santa Clara County coroners officials consider the death an industrial accident, but NASA and Lockheed are conducting a separate, joint investigation and have reached no conclusion. The room where the body was found Tuesday has been sealed so that investigators can reconstruct what happened, King said.

Lockheed officials could provide little information about Johnson, and his personnel file was unavailable. NASA spokesman Nick Duretta said he did not know how many times the tests had been performed by Johnson, who was last stationed at Beale Air Force Base near Marysville.

“It’s standard practice to do this before every flight, and they fly fairly frequently up there,” Duretta said.

Lockheed contracts with NASA to maintain the U-2 jets at the center. Johnson, who lived alone in San Jose, was responsible for making sure the U-2 pilots’ equipment was in working order.