A U.S. Navy T-45C Goshawk jet trainer crashed today, August 16, as it approached Naval Air Station Kingsville in Texas. The single instructor pilot who was onboard the aircraft at the time was able to safely eject. The jet itself came down in an empty Navy-owned field just north of the airfield.
The mishap occurred at around noon local time, according to official Facebook posts from Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville and the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA). The pilot was subsequently taken to Christus Spohn Hospital-Kleberg in Kingsville, Texas for evaluation. First responders from NAS Kingsville and the Kingsville Sherriff’s Office responded to the crash, and “no civilians were harmed in this incident,” according to CNATRA.
“The pilot was conducting a routine training flight that originated at NAS Kingsville,” CNATRA’s Facebook post added. “The incident is under investigation.”
Last year, NAS Kingsville, which is home to CNATRA’s Training Air Wing Two, saw two other separate serious mishaps involving T-45s. In May 2021, two T-45s collided in mid-air – one of the T-45s crashed, and both flyers were forced to eject. In September 2021, another incident involving a T-45 forced two flyers, an instructor pilot and a student, to eject. The student was subsequently electrocuted after becoming entangled in power lines following the ejection sequence.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Contact the author: oliver@thewarzone.com