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"  An F-22 flies during an air show earlier this month. (Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)  UPDATE: Lockheed Martin has confirmed the name of the test pilot who was killed in a F-22 Raptor crash on March 25. David Cooley, 49, died when the advanced stealth warplane went down 35 miles outside of Edwards Air Force Base in California. No one else was injured in the crash. Lockheed said he had been with the company since 2003 and was a 21-year Air Force veteran. An investigation is underway.    One of America&amp;#039;s  advanced fighters crashed in the California desert today; the fate of the pilot is unknown.   An F-22 Raptor fighter plane has crashed 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base, according to the Pentagon. A release from the base confirms the F-22 was conducting a test mission when it crashed. No details have yet been released: No one answered calls at Edwards and the answering machine is full. That status of the pilot is not known.   Military test flights are a vital way to keep procedures and tactics fresh, especially with a relatively new airplane like the Raptor. At Edwards, more than 1,900 test missions of various airplanes are flown each year, the Air Force says. Those missions include ways to defeat anti-aircraft weapons, ways to maximize propulsion, using electronic warfare and finding better tactics to fly unseen. (The Raptor is a stealth airplane.)   While trying new ways to fly sounds risky, the test program has a good safety record and the things they try are simulated and typically part of gradual, incremental test schedules. Activities at Edwards include a Test Pilot School where the Air Force&amp;#039;s pilots, navigators and engineers learn how to conduct flight tests and crunch the data from them. \u2014Joe Pappalardo   RELATED STORIES \u2022 VIDEO: Air Force Holds Throttle on Future of Green Jet Fuel  \u2022 ANALYSIS: The Real Story Behind the F-15 Stand-Down  \u2022 PLUS: The F/A-22 Raptor&amp;#039;s Battle With the Military&amp;#039;s Top Brass   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a4128/4310307/>