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Air Force T-38 Talon II crashed; pilots eject safely

by Jonn Lilyea••19

Mick sends us a link to Fox News which reports that an Air Force T-38 Talon II crashed near the Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. Both pilots ejected safely.

First responders have extinguished the fire and are securing the area. There are no houses or other structures in the immediate area of the crash.

The Air Force crash today is the fifth U.S. Air Force non-combat aviation crash of 2018 versus seven for all of last year:

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19 thoughts on “Air Force T-38 Talon II crashed; pilots eject safely”

    1. Yep. Good planes, but they have far exceeded their designed service life. Meanwhile, the government doesn’t seem to understand that things wear out after a while, and the more advanced the contraption, the more susceptible it is to wear and tear. “Hey, it flew well enough since 1964, so you clearly don’t need a new one.”

    2. Sad that the development costs on new aircraft are so ridiculously high that it’s cheaper to rebuild ancient airframes. Our newest B-52 was acquired in 1963! The NEWEST! And that aircraft is planned to be in service until 2040, which will most likely get pushed back at least a decade. We very well may be flying 100 year old airframes soon.

    3. 60? Damn, as soon as I read the headlines I was thinking “Good deal that they ejected and are okay, but a perfectly good Training Aircraft was turned into scrap metal.”

    4. Yes,the air frames are old, but at least the ejection seats were upgraded.

      June 2014 –
      “Martin-Baker has completed the installation of new-generation US16T ejection seats in the US Air Force’s entire fleet of Northrop T-38 Talon jet trainers, with the upgrade providing crews with a “zero-zero” escape system.”

  2. “Hey, U.S. Military, can you quit it with all the crashes and stuff? Thanks”

    1. Hey, Feds, can you acquire some hardware that’s younger than the user’s grandfather?

    2. Not a good year for military aviation accidents.

      I wonder how much of that is due to the Trump/Mattis-effect of more training on equipment that had been neglected during the prior administration. We’re pulling airplanes out of the boneyard that we just put there a few years ago.

      1. Still facing the consequences of the past adminstration’s hollowing of our military forces. The cash injection provided by Trump will lag current conditions, unfortunately.

  4. Is that the one dubbed the “whistler”?
    Makes a loud whistle sound on approach.

      1. Thanks RAH, I used to sit at the end of the runway at BGR betwen classes and watch them approach. Very irritating vacuum cleaner sound.

        1. Heh. Ever heard the S-3 Viking, aka “Hoover?”

          Those ducted fan engines just sounded goofy.

  5. I hear the pilot said, “God help us” just before he ejected and that Mikey Whinestein/Winestain/Whatever is preparing his complaint at this moment.

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