Research pilot Edwin W. Lewis Jr. at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, CA. 9/29/99 Photo: NASA / Tony Landis

11/9/2007 - DWARDS, Calif. - Edwin W. Lewis Jr., a research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, CA, died in the crash of a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 on the evening of Nov. 8.

Lewis was flying with another Civil Air Patrol member who also perished in the aircraft when it crashed southwest of Las Vegas.

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Lewis served as a NASA Dryden research pilot since 1997. Prior to this, Lewis was a pilot for eight years at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

He served in Vietnam from 1965 through 1966, where he was a forward air controller, instructor and standardization/evaluation pilot. Afterwards, Lewis served in the California Air National Guard for 18 years, and spent 22 years as an airline pilot with Pan American prior to coming to NASA in 1981.

Source: NASA Dryden Press Release