[JPG]

Any knowledgeable aviators have a speculation?

[rlmorel]

Too thin on details, but...they weren't taking off or landing, which, to me, points to:

1. Ran out of fuel due to error or malfunction

2. Collision with birds

3. Mechanical or electrical malfunction

4. Went into a spin they couldn't recover from

5. Pilot error

[T.B. Yoits]

The Texan II has ejection seats so something must have been up that they didn't punch out. They were over a civilian population so they wouldn't have been performing maneuvers. I also didn't see any mention of a distress call or transponder emergency code. Some options:

-a bird strike through the canopy (it's a fast plane)
-an exhaust leak causing them to pass out
-mechanical issue where the crew may have tried to avoid civilian deaths on the ground instead of ejecting
-the crew was caught in an inverted spin and couldn't eject