An instructor and student pilot were both killed in a T-45 crash in an eastern Tennessee forest, Navy officials confirmed. The aircraft was the T-45 that was reported missing yesterday.
“At approximately 9:40 a.m., Training Air Wing ONE, based at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., confirmed the T-45 belonging to Training Squadron Seven that went missing yesterday afternoon has crashed in East Tennessee,” Lt. Elizabeth Feaster wrote in a press release.
RELATED
![](https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/v2/VEWB2XEFYJCR5F5RHKJ4K6CWFA.jpg?auth=f46889fbb092affe341ad85be182b4c587adc06bee5fd7dba00d14d75841325b&width=780&height=340)
“Two pilots were aboard the aircraft, an instructor and a student. The pilots did not survive the incident. Names of the pilots are being withheld until 24 hours after next-of-kin notification.”
An investigation to determine the cause of the mishap will soon be underway, she said, and a team is already on the way to the crash site, which is about 45 miles south of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.