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T-38 Trainer Becoming Too Costly and Dangerous to Keep Flying (Source: Lexington Institute; issued August 31, 2011) (© Lexington Institute; reproduced by permission) The U.S. Air Force's pilot training program relies upon an obsolete Eisenhower-era jet that may soon be too unsafe to fly. The T-38 Talon was the world's first supersonic training aircraft when it debuted in 1959, but half a century later the average plane has logged 15,000 flight hours -- over twice the planned design life -- and age-related problems have begun to appear. Investigations following a fatal 2008 crash caused by metal fatigue found 156 "single-point...

USAF set to take next step on T-38 replacement © BAE Systems Three off-the-shelf trainers made abroad are being considered, including the Hawk Next month, the US Air Force is scheduled to validate a strategy that - if funded - could lead to the rapid development and fielding of hundreds of jets, replacing the aging supersonic Northrop T-38C Talon with a new advanced "T-X" trainer optimised to support fifth-generation fighters. The scheduled meeting of the air force requirements oversight council in March is coincidentally timed near the 50th anniversary of the T-38's entry into service. The T-38 was introduced at...

Two T-38 Talons were delivered in December here with the help of NASA officials. NASA officials used an Aero Spacelines Super Guppy to deliver the first two of an eventual 15 T-38s that will be regenerated here and flown to operating locations at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and Tyndall AFB, Fla. The Super Guppy is a wide-bodied cargo aircraft used in many space programs to transport spacecraft components. "This will keep the T-38 Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Program alive for a number of years, and it will allow us to provide these low-cost training assets to help offset the cost of...

Astronauts Urge Preservation Of T-38s Jan 10, 2011 By Mark Carreau HOUSTON — Though the 30-year-old space shuttle fleet is headed for retirement this year, NASA’s director of flight crew operations and chief astronaut believe the agency should continue to fly a reduced fleet of aging T-38 supersonic jet aircraft based near Johnson Space Center as an essential part of future astronaut training. Brent Jett, a two-time shuttle commander who oversees the directorate responsible for NASA’s astronaut corps and aircraft operations at Houston’s Ellington Field, and Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who served as commander during the most recent of her...

Four pilots at Vance Air Force Base in Enid are under investigation to determine if they flew too low over Kennick Stadium in Iowa before the Hawkeyes played Ohio State back in November. "The gentlemen involved are instructor pilots and part of this was a training mission," said 1st Lt. Katherine Roling. Although the fly over was authorized, pilots with the Air Force are required to fly at least 1,000 feet above congested areas such as a sports stadium. Nearly two weeks after the flyover, the Air Force is still trying to determine exactly how low the pilots flew. Since...

The T-38 Talon is receiving an upgrade that officials said will improve aircrews’ safety and comfort. Representatives from Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Inc. are in the early stages of installing their new escape systems in all T-38Cs at Randolph AFB after completing the same project at Laughlin AFB, Texas, the first of five Air Education and Training Command installations scheduled for the upgrade. One of the greatest advantages of the new seat, called the Mk US16T, is that it functions well in the situation that accounts for most ejections, said Rick French, an AETC T-38 program manager. “The old ejection seat...

The US Air Force may be within months of launching a contest to replace the Northrop T-38 Talon trainer that was introduced in 1962. At least five companies are plotting potential bids to win the contract to replace 450 T-38s and become the go-to trainer option worldwide for Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation fighters - the F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. With fewer new contract opportunities available over the next decade, the T-X programme is shaping up as a must-win battle. In terms of quantity, the deal represents the single largest new contract opportunity for manned aircraft in the US defence...

US Air Force, industry prepare for T-38 replacement By Stephen Trimble The US Air Force may be within months of launching a contest to replace the Northrop T-38 Talon trainer that was introduced in 1962. At least five companies are plotting potential bids to win the contract to replace 450 T-38s and become the go-to trainer option worldwide for Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation fighters - the F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. With fewer new contract opportunities available over the next decade, the T-X programme is shaping up as a must-win battle. In terms of quantity, the deal represents the single...

Learning to fly is hard, learning to fly a military aircraft is even harder. And learning to fly a military aircraft at night is hardest of all. Because of the fact many combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan are flown after dark, more emphasis has been placed in recent years on training military student pilots to fly at night. As a result, every three weeks the men and women earning their wings at Vance Air Force Base do their flying after the sun goes down. The next night flying week at Vance is scheduled to begin Monday. During a recent...

It was my first T-38A night solo out of Laughlin Air Force Base in the remote west Texas desert. Since night flying as a pilot training student is already an emergency procedure by default, the instructors make the flight as basic as possible. The weather has to be almost crystal clear and the winds nearly at a dead calm. Students receive a tremendous amount of preparation training for the flight and are drilled on the game plan so thoroughly that I still remember it to this day: An instructor would take off with the solo students following him at regular...

5/22/2009 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An Air Force test pilot student died yesterday when his jet trainer crashed north of Edwards Air Force Base. Captain Mark P. Graziano, 30, died when the T-38A he was piloting crashed approximately nine miles north of Edwards AFB, near California City. Graziano was assigned to the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards, where he was undergoing training to become a test pilot. His crew member, Major Lee V. Jones, was injured upon ejecting from the aircraft. He was transported to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, where he is listed in stable...

By Rick Rousos THE LEDGER Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 11:09 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 11:09 p.m. LAKELAND | All aerobatic pilot Julie Clark ever wanted to do was fly. Now 60, she endured years of raised eyebrows and obstacles in pursuing her dream, including a tragedy that killed her pilot father. The looks of disbelief came when she got her pilot's credentials and wanted to work as a pilot starting in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. "They were looking for pilots with outdoor plumbing," Clark said. "I had indoor plumbing." Clark lost...

Stephen Trimble—master of all things flying—has found this video that apparently shows a T-38 training fighter shooting down the theoretically invincible F-22 Raptor in a combat training exercise—first kill documented on video ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXmDj3mFrXQ&feature=player_embedded It's not the first time it has happened, however: An EA-18G—a modified F/A-18 F Super Hornet Block II—"got lucky" and killed another F-22 with an AIM-120 AMRAAM in a simulated combat exercise over at Nellis AFB. This is something that Stephen confirmed himself.However, this time instead of a high-tech EA-18G, the killer plane was this:A humble T-38 training jet, piloted by a trainer on a combat training...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Fifty years and an old runway ago, a T-38 Talon flew over Edwards, marking the beginning of its career. From then on, the aircraft continued to add to its list of accomplishments, and on April 10, Team Edwards celebrated the T-38's first flight and its historical achievements. The T-38 is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer used in a variety of roles because of its design, economy of operations, ease of maintenance, high performance and exceptional safety record. The T-38 has swept wings, a "soda-bottle" shaped fuselage and tricycle landing gear with a steerable nose...

5/2/2008 - SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Sheppard officials have identified the pilots killed when their T-38C Talon crashed during a May 1 training mission. Maj. Brad Funk, 35, a 90th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot, and 2nd Lt. Alec Littler, 23, a student pilot in the 80th Flying Training Wing's Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, died when the aircraft crashed on approach during a training mission at about 7:55 a.m. A board of officers is investigating the accident. More information will be released as it becomes available.

5/1/2008 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Air Education and Training Command officials suspended flights of T-38C Talon aircraft May 1 following a fatal crash at Sheppard AFB, Texas. The crash was the second in two weeks involving a T-38, following an April 23 accident in which two pilots were killed when their T-38 crashed at Columbus AFB, Miss. General William R. Looney III, AETC commander, directed the stand-down. "We have no evidence that these incidents are related," General Looney said. "But until we have a more complete understanding of the causes of both accidents, it's prudent to...

The U.S. Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command suspended all T-38C Talon jet trainer flights on May 1 after a second fatal crash in as many weeks. Two pilots were killed on the morning of May 1 when their aircraft assigned to the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base crashed. Names of the victims of the latest accident have not been released. The other crash occurred during takeoff of a T-38 at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi on April 23. Instructor pilot Major Blair Faulkner of the 43rd Flying Training Squadron and student pilot 2nd Lt....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Months after insisting it could find no more records of President Bush's Air National Guard service, the Defense Department has released more than two dozen pages of files, including Bush's report card for flight training and dates of his flights. --snip-- The newly released records show Bush, a lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, ranked No. 22 in a class of 53 pilots when he finished his flight training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in 1969. --snip-- The records also show Bush made a grade of 88 on total airmanship and a perfect...

Beginning this weekend, aircraft buffs will be able to stroll up to and touch about half dozen historic aircraft at the city's newest public facility, the Heritage Airpark. The airpark, at 25th Street East and Avenue P, is a memorial to the aircraft designed, built and tested at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 since the facility was established in 1951. The airpark is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays beginning Jan. 17. A formal ceremony marking the opening of the facility will be held in March, noted Mayor Jim Ledford. Meanwhile, volunteers will continue to prepare...

(Salt Lake City-AP) -- Two pilots escaped injury this morning when a military training plane blew a tire upon landing at the Salt Lake International Airport and veered off the runway. According to airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann, the accident happened about 10:30 a-m. The plane was a T-38 Talon -- a two-seat training jet. The plane originated in Missouri and was passing through Salt Lake City. Gann said two of four runways were closed to tow the plane away out of the grassy field. Flight operations were NOT affected. A spokeswoman at Hill Air Force Base said the plane wasn't...