A collision and crash in a Lake Worth neighborhood involving a military training jet have resulted in a renewed focus on safety and training protocols, a commander with the U.S. Navy said.
This week, the Chief of Naval Air Training released the cockpit video from a military training jet colliding with a bird moments before it crashed into a Lake Worth neighborhood in Sept. 2021. The Navy T-45C Goshawk was on a routine training flight from Corpus Christi International Airport when it flew into a large bird while on its descent about one mile north of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.
Capt. Raymond Barnes with the U.S. Navy is the commander of Training Air Wing Two in Kingsville, Texas. Each year, approximately 150 Navy and Marine Corps student pilots report to Training Air Wing Two.
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“We take students and train them on weapons delivery, air-to-air tactics, close formation flying. Then ultimately, we take them to the aircraft carrier so they can test their metal before moving on to the fleet,” Capt. Barnes explained.
There were no fatalities reported in Sept. 2021, and Barnes said the pilots involved have since fully recovered. The investigation into the crash has also been completed, he said.
Barnes said the investigation found the cause of the crash was a bird strike, not a pilot error.
“It really was the quick thinking of these pilots that we didn’t have any more serious mishaps in this case,” he told NBC 5. “If you watch the video, there’s about 26 seconds from the time the bird is ingested in the engine and when they make the decision to eject. Twenty-six seconds is not much time to make an accurate diagnosis, evaluate all of your options and then ultimately, make a decision.”
He added the incident has allowed for a reevaluation of how aircraft are flown in one of the most populated bird migration paths in the country.
“Typically in the spring and fall, we see the migration and unfortunately, they come right over the top over the Naval Air station in Kingsville, it seems,” he said. “So, we did adjust the way we take off, the way we recover the airplanes during periods of high bird activity, based on known behaviors of birds… like how they respond if they detect if there’s an aircraft there.”
Capt. Barnes expressed gratitude for the first responders and emergency crews who responded to the crash in Sept. 2021.
“That’s one of the hallmarks of naval aviation, we’re always striving to do better. We’re always striving to learn from the mishaps and the mistakes that we make,” he said. “I think in this case, the bird activity in southern Texas is one of the largest concerns that I have as a commander in terms of the safety of my aircrew and my aircraft, so this was a great way to reevaluate how we conduct our operations. In my mind, we’re doing it in a much safer way now.”
