A U-2 spy plane crashed in Northern California on Tuesday morning shortly after takeoff from Beale Air Force Base, killing one pilot and injuring another, a U.S. Air Force official announced.
The pilots ejected from the plane right before it crashed in a rural area north of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Air Force says the pilots were on a training mission, and the current status of the injured pilot is unknown. The plane is a single-engine, high-altitude surveillance jet that can reach 70,000 feet. It was first designed when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, and has gone through 33 updates since. The U-2 is scheduled to be retired by 2019.
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