The two-seat T-38 jet, delegated to the 14th Flying Training Wing based from Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, went down to 5:30 p.m. near Dannelly Field in Montgomery.
“There are not any words which could explain the despair that accompanies the reduction of our teammates.”
Although local press reported the National Transportation Safety Board had sent a group to the spectacle, an NTSB spokesperson said that the agency had no authority over the crash since it demanded”a military aircraft to a military assignment.”
The T-38 is used by the Air Force and Navy for coaching. The Alabama Air National Guard has three chief bases throughout the state situated in Birmingham, Dothan and Montgomery, close to the wreck site, along with the Air Force has yet another base in the region.
The jets normally carry a teacher and a student pilot.
The airplane crashed near a residential area but didn’t strike any structures on the floor, Marshall Taggart Jr., the airport’s executive director, informed WSFA-TV of Montgomery.
A lot of other pilots had whined about sunlight shortly prior to the crash, Taggart stated the tower reported, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
Christina Thornton, the emergency management director in Montgomery, stated Air National Guard officials located in precisely the exact same airport had reacted to the scene together with police, firefighters and other local first responders, which is normal procedure. Police were requesting drivers to get around the intersection of Selma Highway and Lamar Road.
“We train together, we respond collectively,” Thornton said.
The pilots have never been publicly identified, pending notification of the family.