Mississippi military plane crash under investigation
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WOCHIT
Two Columbus Air Force Base pilots escaped serious injury Wednesday morning, ejecting moments before their training jet crashed in a wooded area outside the base.
A dark plume of smoke comes from where a U.S. Air Force T-38C Talon training jet crashed Wednesday morning, May 23, 2018, near Columbus, Miss., with both pilots ejecting safely.
WCBI-TV, AP
An Air Force T-38C Talon crashed about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday during a "routine training sortie," said Lt. Col. Marc Deshaies.
The crash happened "just north of Columbus Air Force Base, just outside the confines of the base," Deshaies said. The aircraft grounded outside the perimeter fence of the base in a wooded area.
Both pilots, an instructor and a student pilot, ejected safely. They were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle where they were treated and released.
The instructor pilot is assigned to the 50th Flying Training Squadron. The student pilot is assigned to the 14th Student Squadron.
"We value so much our instructor and student pilot force," Deshaies said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "These men and women sacrifice to serve, and it's absolutely at the forefront of the Team BLAZE mission to care for them and for their families throughout all of this. We are extremely, extremely thankful that they were able to eject safely from the aircraft."
Local law enforcement and emergency workers responded to the scene. First responders extinguished the fire and secured the area. There were no homes or other structures in the immediate area of the crash.
An interim safety board has been convened, Deshaies said, "mainly with the interest of preserving the evidence and gathering necessary data and witness statements as it moves forward in the process."
T-38 Talon flying
The T38 Talon is a "high performance aircraft" used to train pilots who typically advance to fly fighter or bomber jets. T38 Talons flew more than 12,000 hours in nearly 12,000 sorties at CAFB in 2017, Deshaies said.
The particular plane that crashed Wednesday was manufactured in 1968 and had an estimated cost of $7 million.
Flying was suspended Wednesday as a result of the crash, Deshaies said. Further details, including the identity of the pilots or possible reasons for the crash, were not provided.
In 2008, a T-38 crash claimed the life of two CAFB pilots. On April 23, a T-38C Talon crashed after the plane began an "uncommanded roll to the left,"according to a report released by the U.S. Air Force.
Maj. Blair Faulkner, a 43rd Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot, and 2nd Lt. Matthew Emmons, a student pilot assigned to the 50th Flying Training Squadron, were unable to eject. They were killed on impact.
Authorities with Columbus Air Force Base work with local law enforcement and fire departments in responding to the scene of a U.S. Air Force T-38C Talon II training jet crash, near the Lowndes-Monroe County line near Columbus, Miss., early Wednesday, May 23, 2018.
LUISA PORTER, AP
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