Plane Crash in Desert Kills Two
A plane that took off from Mojave Airport crashed in the desert Thursday, killing a retired Air Force test pilot and his student, a South Korean military pilot.
Passengers aboard a training flight from the National Test Pilot School, flying out of nearby Fox Field, spotted the downed twin-engine plane in an unpopulated part of Kern County, about 10 miles northwest of Lancaster, shortly after 12:19 p.m., said Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles.
Killed in the crash were South Korean Air Force Maj. Cheongon Kim, 34, and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Ronald Bradley, 59, of Lake Havasu, Ariz., said Greg Lewis, deputy director of the test pilot school.
Bradley, a Vietnam war veteran, was training Kim to become a test pilot, Lewis said. Bradley was in charge of flight operations for the school.
The plane had taken off at 8:30 a.m. for a flying practice area about 10 miles west of Fox Field in Lancaster, Walker said. It was reported missing at 11:07 a.m.
Bradley is survived by his wife and an adult son, Lewis said. Kim, who was living in Lancaster during his training, leaves a wife and two children.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will investigate the crash.
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