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Navy Pilot Safe After T-45 Goshawk Crash in South Texas

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS110616-09
6/16/2011

From Naval Air Station Kingsville Public Affairs

NAS KINGSVILLE, Texas (NNS) -- A T-45 Goshawk from Training Air Wing Two at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville crashed at approximately 10 a.m., June 15, in a remote field near George West, Texas.

The pilot, a student naval aviator assigned to Training Squadron 21 (VT-21), was conducting a routine training flight at the time of the crash. He ejected from the aircraft and landed safely about a mile from the crash site. He sustained only minor injuries, but was transported by U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to Christus Spohn Hospital-Kleberg in Kingsville for further observation. He was later released. It is the policy of the Naval Air Training Command to not release the names of student aviators injured in mishaps.

The aircraft came to rest on a remote part of a private ranch near George West. Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and helicopter crewmen from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi provided immediate assistance at the remote location, while security and firefighter personnel from NAS Kingsville and Navy Auxiliary Landing Field Orange Grove made their way to the remote location.

Once on scene, firefighters sprayed down the aircraft to ensure the flames from the crash were extinguished, and NAS Kingsville security personnel secured the crash site.

An investigation team from Training Air Wing 2, traveled to the site late Wednesday afternoon to survey the aircraft, and begin the preliminary stages of their investigation into the cause of the crash.

The aircraft will remain at the crash site while the investigation team completes their initial inspection of the aircraft. It will then be transported back to NAS Kingsville for further inspection.

The T-45 Goshawk, built by Boeing, is a two-seat jet aircraft used to train student naval aviators in the jet/strike pipeline. Students spend an average of 12 months with Training Air Wing TWO completing the training syllabus. Upon completion they receive their coveted 'Wings of Gold' and are designated as Naval Aviators. They then receive orders to a Fleet Replacement Squadron where they'll learn their selected fleet aircraft.

Training Air Wing 2 is one of two Navy commands that train Navy and Marine Corps jet pilots for the fleet, training 50 percent of all Navy and Marine Corps jet pilots each year.