Two U.S. Air Force airmen were killed in an accident that occurred during a routine training mission on Thursday morning. Two T-38 Talon aircraft based at Oklahoma’s Vance Air Force Base as part of the 71st Flying Training Wing were involved in the crash, which took place at approximately 9:10 a.m. local time.
According to the commander of the 71st Flying Training Wing, Col. Corey Simmons, the accident occurred during the landing phase of a formation training flight. There were two people onboard each aircraft. Both fatalities occurred on one aircraft and Col. Simmons reported the second flight crew sustained no injuries. The identities of those involved have not yet been released.
An Air Force safety investigation team is investigating the accident.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Since the tower viewed the crash, the event seen should be released NOW.
(instead of waiting 8 months or more when we forgot about it)
Why? The can view both planes (and their ground scars) on KOKO5 Facebook and see what happened.
I was transferred to Vance in 1966 as an air traffic controller. The T-38s were already a couple of years in service. As tragic as any accident is, if you backtrack though through the history of the T-38s and the fantastic USAF flight training program, it is absolutely amazing! The two years I spent at Vance (this was the Vietnam era and massive flight training in progress), T-38s went around the pattern, in and out of the airport, day and night, low, low time students flying them, frequently solo, and I can only remember one training accident. That was a VFR night training mission into the darkness of western Okla. That flight flew into some terrain. The USAF flight training programs certainly gets great credit for that wonderful safety record. But the wonderful T-38 does also. And, over half a century later, a T-38 looks just as modern as it ever did.