14 DAY TRIAL // A jet owned by the United States Navy has crashed at Naval Air Station Pensacola, leaving two people injured. The pilots were the only members of the crew, officials report.
The plane hit the ground during a training session on Monday. It crash landed at around 10:30 a.m. at Sherman Field, on NAS Pensacola perimeter, Public Affairs Officer Harry White says in a press conference.
WEAR TV informs that the training aircraft is a Navy issued T-45C Goshawk. It was assigned to Training Squadron 86, but the names of the pilots have not been disclosed due to privacy issues.
“A base spokesperson says the plane involved is a U.S. Navy T-45C Goshawk training aircraft. The aircraft with two on board was making an approach when the mishap occurred.
“The two-seat training aircraft, assigned to Training Squadron 86, was conducting a routine training flight,” the news outlet documents.
The pilots were returning from a local training flight at the time of impact. They were near the runway when they came down, in the first crash of a Navy training jet since May 2012.
The aircraft costs about $22 million (€16.3 million) and it is produced by Boeing Co. It is equipped with a Rolls Royce engine, the Pensacola News Journal writes.
Navy Lt. John Supple, a spokesman at the Chief of Naval Air Training Command in Corpus Christi, Texas, described that the crew survived the May incident.
“The crew in that accident ejected,” he states.
The crew survived and they were transported to a local clinic. According to an Escambia County spokesperson, they had to be extricated from the plane after the accident.
Both men were being treated at Baptist Hospital, and one was airlifted to the medical facility by Lifeflight. Their condition is not known at this point.