T-38 grounding

[WEAPON]

They must have grounded the Talon fleet. There has not been one up here at Randolph since this morning.

[flynhigh]

They must have grounded the Talon fleet. There has not been one up here at Randolph since this morning.

Air Force Suspends Training Jet Following 2nd Fatal Crash

Thursday, May 01, 2008

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The Air Force grounded all T-38C training jets on Thursday, following the second fatal crash involving the aircraft in eight days, officials said.

Two airmen were killed when their T-38C Talon went down during a routine training mission about 7:55 a.m., according a statement issued by Sheppard Air Force Base.

The two-seater, high-altitude supersonic plane was assigned to the 80th Flying Training Wing, a multinational organization that produces future combat pilots for NATO.

The pilots' names were not immediately released.

Two pilots died April 23 when their training jet crashed at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused both crashes.

"At this point we have no indication that there was any tie between the two," said Capt. John Severns, Chief of Media Relations for Air Education Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio.

Nonetheless, the Air Force suspended all T-38 flights pending the investigation. The planes are used to prepare student pilots to fly fighters and bombers.

"Until we have more complete understanding of the causes of both accidents, it's prudent to stand down the T-38s" said General William R. Looney III, the commander who issued the order.

The Air Force has about 500 of the aircraft in its inventory.

First deployed in 1959, the jet has been linked to 138 fatalities and some 189 crashes, according to the Air Force Safety Center.

Of 16 fatalities related to crashes at Sheppard Air Force Base since 1967, all but six involved T-38s.

Pilots from 13 NATO countries train through Sheppard's Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.

The T-38's crew normally consists of a student pilot and instructor seated in tandem. Student pilots learn aerobatics, formation flying, night and instrument flying, cross-country awareness, general maintenance awareness and supersonic techniques.

All Thursday flights at Wichita Falls' Municipal Airport, which shares runways with Sheppard, were canceled.

Wichita Falls is about 135 miles northwest of Dallas.

Them Them

[HuggyU2]

All Beale T-38A's have been grounded too.

[Guest LittleMan]

Here's an update.. the T-38 has been officially grounded, hopefully this can be worked through so that we won't lose any more selects and top-notch IPs. I'm sure some of those that are in T-38's right now might be a little bummed, but after "saying goodbye" to two buds and two IPs flying is probably one of the last things on their minds. Hopefully they'll get some leave and be able to de-stress a bit before having to jump back in the saddle; enough of us are shaken up about this already and we weren't even there.

Edited May 8, 2008 by LittleMan

[brabus]

Last Thursday was a Stand Down, apparently they weren't officially grounded until Monday. I'm not really sure of the difference but I think that is what Littleman was getting at.

Gotcha.

they have been trying to scale back 38 drops for some time since TAMI 21 came out and this is a perfect way to build more room in the system

Depending on how long we're down, this could end up helping the log jam. Good point.

[trailmix]

http://www.aetc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123097540

Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs

5/6/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Air Education and Training Command announced this afternoon that its T-38 aircraft are cleared to resume flying operations Wednesday.

Gen. William R. Looney III, AETC commander, lifted the stand down of the command's T-38s that had been in place since Friday, following a fatal crash Thursday at Sheppard AFB, Texas. The crash was the second in eight days involving a T-38.

Initial information indicates that the crashes were not related.

The command's T-38 fleet will return to normal operations over the next several days as individual aircraft are cleared for flight.

[egochecks]

So they have the AETC blessing to fly but they still all need to be checked right? We were told about 3 per day released after inspection initially until the process becomes more efficient.

"The command's T-38 fleet will return to normal operations over the next several days as individual aircraft are cleared for flight."

This last line seems to reiterate that the checks are still ongoing. Just wondering if you knew if that was the case.

[Flare]

Due to a request by someone close to the accident and out of respect to those fallen aviators, I have moved the posts regarding the grounding and subsequent return to flight of the USAF T-38s from the SPS crash post. If you want to talk about the T-38 issue, this is the place to do it (sts), not the accident thread.

[HuggyU2]

The Navy/Marine F-5's are grounded too, as the part is common to both aircraft.