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VALPARAISO, Florida (AP) -- A T-38 military training jet crashed Saturday in a residential area, hitting two homes, officials said. The pilot escaped with minor injuries and no one on the ground was hurt.

The plane hit two houses in this Panhandle town outside of Eglin Air Force Base around 1:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m. EST), said Lt. Col. Debbie Millett, a base spokeswoman.

She said the pilot ejected and was brought to a military hospital in good condition. People were inside the houses at the time of the crash and were talking to investigators, she said.

Millett said the jet did not come from Eglin, but was based at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The T-38 is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet, according to the Air Force's Web site. NASA has used the T-38 as a trainer for astronauts preparing for space shuttle missions.

Valparaiso is about 53 miles east of Pensacola.


"<---Jesus Powers My Hotrod---<<<"

"My purpose in life does not include a hankering to charm society."

Edited by - mrmudd on Mar 08 2003 5:59 PM

I am going to the safety office on Monday to read the preliminary report. Since it was an AF jet this is easy to do. Just under 3 years ago 2 experienced Navy pilots lost their life in a T38 at Pax river. The effort myself and others went to trying to get some info on that crash from the navy was phenomenal. The impression we got was that they do not care that we fly hundreds of sorties per day in that jet and have a vested interest in what caused that crash whether mechanical (and maybe all our jets need inspections or something) or pilot error (maybe we need to look at some specific way that we fly the T38). They seemed more interested in covering their own asses than in future mishap prevention. Be sure that the AF does not operate like that. In Dec 2000 we lost a T38 and found that there was a mechanical issue that needed to be addressed immediately. We shared that information with all militaries that fly the T38 including allies like Turkey and of course the navy guys as well. The Navy guys at Pax river will have access to this most recent crash as well so that they may learn lessons from it just like we do. We still never found out what happened in the navy T38 crash.....

[quote]
Just under 3 years ago 2 experienced Navy pilots lost their life in a T38 at Pax river. The effort myself and others went to trying to get some info on that crash from the navy was phenomenal. The impression we got was that they do not care that we fly hundreds of sorties per day in that jet and have a vested interest in what caused that crash whether mechanical (and maybe all our jets need inspections or something) or pilot error (maybe we need to look at some specific way that we fly the T38). They seemed more interested in covering their own asses than in future mishap prevention. ------------

I recall this one. Am pretty sure they were flight test pilots too. Within last two years, at Pax River they lost 2 contract aerobatic planes with 4 pilots and two of them were fight test. Section go and they rammed on the runway. They were Extra 400s, possibly. Tail dragger big motor in the front.

Lots of CYA in all services.

Another crash that went quiet was the QF-4 at Point Mugu. Some of the MX types were bitching they weren't getting the support to keep the birds flying right.

Jack