Pilot Killed After Laughlin AFB Military Trainer Crash (Updated)

LAUGHLIN AFB, TEXAS — A pilot was killed after a military trainer aircraft crashed at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, Texas, on Tuesday evening, officials confirmed.

According to Laughlin AFB officials, the aircraft crashed at around 7:40 p.m. on base. The downed aircraft is an Air Force T-38 Talon favored by the U.S. Air Force for training its pilots.

The death was reported early Wednesday, just past midnight. No information on injuries or casualties was made available in the hours following the crash. Laughlin AFB officials confirmed just past midnight that a pilot had died in the crash while another was transferred to Val Verde Medical Center for treatment.

In their early Wednesday update, base officials said the names of the pilots are being withheld until their family members can be informed of their deaths. A board of officers is now slated to convene to investigate the incident, Laughlin AFB officials said, and additional details will be provided as more information is known.

Related story: Laughlin AFB Officials ID Pilot Killed In Jet Crash

The incident marks the fifth time a Talon has crashed in a span of 12 months, and the second crash of a military trainer at Laughlin in less than one year. Another T-38 crashed near Lake Amistad just outside Del Rio on Nov. 20, 2017. One of the occupants escaped with minor injuries, but another was killed after failing to eject.

In September, a T-38C veered off the runway at Sheppard AFB in the North Texas city of Wichita Falls. In that incident, both pilots on board were able to eject safely. The month before, another T-38 crashed at Vance AFB in Enid, Okla., according to a news release from the base. An instructor safely ejected without serious injury, but the aircraft was destroyed.

Since its original iteration in the 1950s, more than 210 aircraft losses and ejections have been documented over the lifetime of the T-38, according to the Wayback Machine website that documents ejections and losses. The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, supersonic jet that has the distinction of being the world's first supersonic trainer and the most widely produced aircraft of its kind.

Laughlin AFB in Del Rio is located some 160 miles west of San Antonio and 235 miles southwest of the capital city of Austin.

The incident comes two weeks after the Air Force removed three top commanders at Laughlin AFB on Oct. 31, citing concerns over "dangerous and threatening behavior" at the key pilot training installation.

Removed from duty were: Col. Charles Velino, the commander of the 47th Flying Training Wing, and the commanders of its operations group and flying training squadron citing “chronic leadership failures” raised in an investigation into widespread officer misconduct within the unit, according to an Air Force statement released Wednesday. The statement did not name the commanders of the operations group or the flying training squadron.

“The prior command team chronically failed to appropriately care for people and the mission,” Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, the chief of the Air Education and Training Command, said in a prepared statement. “They failed to correct an evolving situation that led to an environment where some airmen did not feel safe or respected.”

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>>> Top image: A T-38 Talon participates in the 2004 Lackland Airfest. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)