was considered for several high-profile military operations during the mid-1980s, but operations remained largely confined to nighttime flights around Nevada and California for a number of years. It took a presidential authorization to begin off-range flights. In the event of an unscheduled landing, the pilots carried a signed letter from a senior Air Force general ordering the base or wing commander to protect the aircraft. 37th Tactical Fighter Wing In spite of the tight security, the Air Force was already making plans to “normalize” future support within the AF Logistics Command structure. As a "black" program, it would probably never achieve a support structure similar to that for F-15s or F-111s. Sacramento Air Logistics Center was tasked in late 1983/early 1984 to prepare to take on full logistics and management responsibility for support of the F-117A. A depot was established in 1984 to accomplish repairs and install modifications on the aircraft. This depot, first located in Lockheed's Palmdale Plant 10 (PS-77), eventually took the place of Lockheed Depot Field Teams performing the depot work at Tonopah. The F-117s were moved between the TTR and depot by C-5, and were only loaded and unloaded at night. This arrangement required the aircraft to be defueled, disassembled, cradled, and then loaded aboard the C-5, flown to the depot, and unloaded before the real work could begin. Of course, this meant that the reverse actions had to occur at the end of the depot work before the aircraft could be reassembled, flight-tested, and redelivered to Tonopah. In addition to the logistical problems, the security also created safety problems. The nighttime operations resulted in two F-117A losses due to spatial disorientation, one of the planes crashing 30 miles east of the airfield in October 1987. An F-117 based at Tonopah Test Range and piloted by Maj. Ross Mulhare crashed on July 11, 1986 near Bakersfield, California. Another F-117 piloted by Michael C. Stewart was lost on October 14, 1987 on the range about 30 miles east of the TTR Airfield, and it took the Air Force nearly a day to find the wreckage In both crashes the pilot was killed on impact, and both were attributed to fatigue and disorientation. In November 1988 the Air Force formally acknowledged its F-117 activities at Tonopah, bringing what was a "black world" program into "gray world" status. However, F-117 flight operations continued to be restricted to the nighttime