obliterati (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} obliterati) wrote,@ 2009-05-22 11:12:00 |
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Puzzle Piece
Thu May 21
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. – A military jet on a training mission crashed north of Edwards Air Force base in the desert on Thursday, authorities said. The fate of the two crew members aboard was not immediately known.
The T-38 Talon went down at 1:15 p.m. nine miles north of the base, Senior Airman Julius Delos Reyes said in a statement. Base officials had no immediate information on the cause of the crash.
It was the second crash of an aircraft from Edwards in less than two months. On March 25, an Air Force F-22A Raptor went down about 35 miles north of the base, killing a test pilot for prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.
The T-38 Talon is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer used primarily for pilot training.
Test pilots and flight test engineers are trained in T-38s at Edwards, while Air Force Materiel Command uses the jet to test experimental equipment such as electrical and weapon systems. NASA uses T-38s as trainers for astronauts. The Navy and other air forces around the world also use them.
The jets are a little more than 46 feet long and have wingspans of about 25 feet.
The Talon, built by Northrop Corp., first flew in 1959. The Air Force acquired more than 1,100 before production ended in 1972. More than half are still flying, according to the manufacturer, now Northrop Grumman.
The company said that the average T-38 has flown 15,000 hours and about 75,000 pilots have trained in them.
In April, the 50th anniversary of the first Talon flight was celebrated at a Northrop Grumman facility in El Segundo, Calif.
"The first noteworthy piece of real estate they destroyed was Edwards Air Force Base."Air Force jet crashes near Edwards AFB in Calif.
And to this very day, wing-nuts and data reduction clerks alike
Speak in reverent whispers about that fateful night
When test stand number one and the rocket sled itself got lunched,
I said lunched,
By a famous mountain and his small wooden wife."
Thu May 21
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. – A military jet on a training mission crashed north of Edwards Air Force base in the desert on Thursday, authorities said. The fate of the two crew members aboard was not immediately known.
The T-38 Talon went down at 1:15 p.m. nine miles north of the base, Senior Airman Julius Delos Reyes said in a statement. Base officials had no immediate information on the cause of the crash.
It was the second crash of an aircraft from Edwards in less than two months. On March 25, an Air Force F-22A Raptor went down about 35 miles north of the base, killing a test pilot for prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.
The T-38 Talon is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer used primarily for pilot training.
Test pilots and flight test engineers are trained in T-38s at Edwards, while Air Force Materiel Command uses the jet to test experimental equipment such as electrical and weapon systems. NASA uses T-38s as trainers for astronauts. The Navy and other air forces around the world also use them.
The jets are a little more than 46 feet long and have wingspans of about 25 feet.
The Talon, built by Northrop Corp., first flew in 1959. The Air Force acquired more than 1,100 before production ended in 1972. More than half are still flying, according to the manufacturer, now Northrop Grumman.
The company said that the average T-38 has flown 15,000 hours and about 75,000 pilots have trained in them.
In April, the 50th anniversary of the first Talon flight was celebrated at a Northrop Grumman facility in El Segundo, Calif.