Exclusive: Family Demands Truth in Air Force F-22 Pilot's Death

The sister of one of America's top fighter pilots said that the Air Force is tarnishing her brother's memory by blaming him for the crash that took his life rather than the plane that cut off his oxygen supply mid-flight -- the same troubled fighter plane that represents a $79 billion Air Force investment with a major defense contractor.

"I'd like to think it's easier to blame Jeff. He's not here to defend himself," Jennifer Haney, sister of the late Capt. Jeff Haney and family spokesperson, told ABC News in an exclusive interview to be broadcast on "Nightline" tonight. "To them, Jeff was a number, it feels like sometimes. But those jets are worth a lot of money."

Today the Air Force officially received the last F-22 Raptor from defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin, completing an order of 187 planes that cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $79 billion -- meaning that including research, development and production among other costs, each plane has a price tag of more than $420 million.


Despite the Air Force's glowing descriptions of the jet as America's future of air dominance, critics told ABC News the pricey plane was a waste of money in today's combat environment and, more importantly, it could be more of a danger to its own pilots. As an ABC News investigation found, unknown problems with the plane have already contributed to the death of one pilot, the near-death of another and mid-air scares for dozens more.

The F-22 Raptor, America's most expensive fighter, is the subject of an ABC News investigation airing tonight on "World News With Diane Sawyer" at 6:30 p.m. ET and then "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET.



F-22 Pilot Blamed in Fatal Crash After Plane Malfunction

Capt. Jeff Haney was flying the Air Force's next-generation stealth F-22 Raptor on a routine training mission in Alaska in November 2010 when a sudden malfunction cut off his oxygen completely. Capt. Haney never made a distress call but took his plane into a dive and, a little over a minute later, crashed into the winter wilderness at faster than the speed of sound.

After a lengthy investigation, an Air Force Accident Investigation Board could not find the cause of the malfunction but determined "by clear and convincing evidence" that in addition to other factors, Haney was to blame for the crash because he was too distracted by his inability to breathe to fly the plane properly. VIDEO