Cause of U-2 crash still under investigation

The Air Force does not have enough evidence collected yet to determine the cause of a crash that killed a Beale-based U-2 pilot in Southwest Asia on June 22.

The Air Force is continuing with its investigation and has established two separate panels to determine what led up to the crash that killed Maj. Duane Dively, 43, of Yuba City.

Dively had been a U-2 pilot for more than 10 years and was one of Beale Air Force Base's most experienced U-2 pilots. The crash occurred while he was returning to a military base in an undisclosed location following a mission over Afghanistan.

Gen. Ronald E. Keys, commander of Air Combat Command in Virginia, convened a safety investigation board immediately after the crash in order to determined the cause of the crash and to recommend changes to prevent such and accident from happening again.

The report the board will produce will not be made public.

A second board, the accident investigation board, will produce a separate report that will be released. That report will be reviewed by the Air Combat Command commander and Dively's family before it goes to the public.

The Air Force will release information as it becomes available.