One Laughlin Air Force Base Pilot Dead and Another Injured in Airplane Crash
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2018
United States Air Force Laughlin Base in Del Rio, Texas announced that one of its pilot was killed and another injured on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 when a Talon T-38C supersonic jet crashed at approximately 7:40 P.M. in Val Verde County, Texas on the United States-Mexico border.
Laughlin Air Force Base has not yet released the names of the deceased and injured pilots until next of kin are notified. It is unknown what is the medical condition of the injured pilot. The injured pilot was immediately transported to the Val Verde Regional Medical Center by emergency personnel after the plane crash.
Federal and military transportation and aviation experts are on the scene to investigate the cause of the plane crash.
The Air Force T-38C Talon jet crashed at about 7:40 P.M. at Laughlin Air Force Base. This is the second Talon T-38C jet crash within 11 months from Laughlin Air Force Base.
On November 20, 2017, Air Force Captain Paul J. Barbour was killed when his Talon T-38C jet crashed about 4 P.M. near Lake Amistad Reservoir in Del Rio, Texas. The cause of Barbour’s crash was listed as total hydraulic failure of the jet’s engine. The other pilot, Captain Joshua Hammervold, an instructor pilot in the 87th Flying Training Squadron, safely ejected from the Talon T-38C jet and sustained minor injuries from the crash. He was also treated at Val Verde Regional Medical Center.
Laughlin Air Force Base closed down the flying training mission for a week back in November 2017 to allow all of its Talon T-38C jets be inspected.
The United States Air Force has had other Talon T-38Cs crashed before. The Talon T-38C jet has been the mainstay jet training plane for the U.S. Air Force. However, in February of this year, the Air Force announced that it is retiring the Talon T-38C jet from training and replace it with the T-X jet commencing in 2022.
This second jet crash at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas comes only a few weeks after three top commanders were relieved of duty by the U.S. Air Force. The jet crash on November 13, 2018 is under investigation.
