Lockheed Martin, Boeing Settle F-22 Fighter Wrongful Death Suit – ABC News
Defense contracting giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing have settled a wrongful death lawsuit leveled against them by the widow of an F-22 fighter pilot killed in a crash shortly after his plane malfunctioned, a Boeing spokesperson said.
The settlement, first reported by Flight Global, is the culmination of a suit filed in March against Lockheed Martin, Boeing and other major defense contractors involved in the plane’s production by Anna Haney, the widow of Capt. Jeff Haney. Anna Haney accused the contractors of knowingly providing the Air Force a “dangerous” and “defective” aircraft.
“The matter has settled and the settlement terms are confidential,” a Boeing spokesperson told ABC News. The spokesperson declined to comment further.
Capt. Haney, father of two young girls, had just completed a routine training mission in Alaska in November 2010 when his F-22 malfunctioned and cut off his oxygen. The plane went into a dive and, about a minute later, slammed into the winter wilderness at faster than the speed of sound.
After a months-long investigation, the Air Force released a report claiming “by clear and convincing evidence” that Haney was to blame for the crash because he was essentially too distracted by his inability to breathe to fly the plane properly.
The Air Force said they did not believe Haney was unconscious due to lack of oxygen at any point in his ordeal — a claim strongly disputed by his family and questioned by other F-22 pilots, aviation experts and the Pentagon’s own Inspector General, who has launched a rare review of the Air Force investigation. Haney’s family said it was more likely he had passed out due to lack of oxygen at least part of the time and, therefore, [...]