An instructor pilot from United States Air Force (USAF) died this Tuesday morning (14) after being seriously injured in an accidental ejection on the floor. The accident occurred yesterday at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, with a T-6 Texan II training plane.
Details about the accident are still scarce. The pilot was taken to the hospital but did not survive his injuries. The soldier's death was announced this afternoon by the Base where the aviator served. In the statement, the military organization reports that “the 80th Flight Training Wing instructor died this morning from injuries sustained when the ejection seat of his T-6A was deployed during ground operations.”
On the same note, the Air Force says that the causes of the accident are being investigated. The pilot's identity will not be revealed until 24 hours after notification of the death to the next of kin.
The T-6A Texan II is a two-seat fixed-wing trainer aircraft. Manufactured by Beechcraft/Raytheon, the turboprop is based on the Pilatus PC-9 from Switzerland and is the main basic flight instruction aircraft in service with the United States Air Force and Navy.
Sheppard Air Force Base is in Wichita Falls, near the Texas-Oklahoma border, and is the USAF's largest technical training organization. It is also home to the t Euro-NATO jet pilot program, which trains combat pilots for 14 NATO countries on a 55-week course. More than 60.000 people graduate from basic and advanced courses at Sheppard each year.
