IP, student-aviator ID'd in Ala. crash

A Navy T-6 Texan II trainer aircraft crashed around 5 p.m. on Oct. 23 in Baldwin County, Ala., near the Magnolia Springs Elementary School, west of Foley, killing all occupants on board, authorities said.  The Navy did not say how many people were aboard the plane. Generally speaking, the T-6 is a two-person trainer that flies out of NAS Whiting Field, Fla. The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and multiple fire departments responded to the scene of the crash on County Road 55 near Foley, the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency said. (Source: AL.com 1023/20) Vance AFB in Oklahoma completed transitioning from the T-37 to the T-6 in 2006. That year, Columbus AFB, Miss., began its transition, and retired its last T-37 in April 2008. (Source: AL.com 10/23/20) UPDATE: The T-6B is often used to train Navy, Marine and Coast Guard aviators, according to the Navy. The two crew members were an instructor and student, said Cmdr. Zach Harrell, a Naval Air Forces spokesman. The Navy said it won’t release their names, or the NASWF unit to which they were attached, for 24 hours after next of kin had been notified. The crash sent debris and a firestorm toward a house, catching it on fire, said Joseph Darby, chief of the Foley Fire Department. Two occupants (a father and daughter) escaped, he said. Two vehicles and the “remainders of the plane” were destroyed in the fire, he said. Fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze quickly. A neighbor heard the low-flying aircraft and saw it nose-dive into the ground. The Defense Department is investigating. (Source: NY Times 10/24/20) UPDATE2: Ensign Morgan Garrett, of Waxhaw, .C., was identified by Rear Adm. William Kelly, superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, in an email to the academy community. In a news release early Sunday afternoon, the Navy identified the other crew member as Lt. Rhiannon Ross, 30, of Wixom, Mich., an instructor-pilot (IP) at VT-2. A spokesman for Commander, Naval Air Forces said the Navy is not releasing any other information at this time. In a post Sunday on the Facebook page of Chief of Naval Air Training, the commander of Training Squadron 2, part of Training Wing 5 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Florida, expressed his sorrow. (Source: Navy Times 10/25/20) https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/10/25/coast-guard-member-among-crew-killed-in-navy-plane-crash-in-residential-neighborhood/