The Navy lifted an operational pause on the its T-45C Goshawk jet trainer fleet last week, after grounding the entire fleet on July 10 following an engine malfunction.
The grounding marked at least the second such pause the fleet has implemented this year, and the third since October 2022, according to a tally by Navy Times.
This is at least the second pause the fleet has experienced this year, and the third since October 2022, according to a tally by Navy Times.
The mishap that led to the most recent grounding occurred after a T-45C Goshawk assigned to Training Air Wing 2 encountered an in-flight engine malfunction during takeoff from Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Texas, prompting the aircraft to conduct a precautionary emergency landing at Meacham Airport, Fort Worth, according to the service’s Naval Air Training command.
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“The pilot reported no injuries following the incident,” CNATRA said in a statement to Navy Times. “Damage to the aircraft engine was reported after ground inspection; however, the extent of the damage is currently under investigation.”
CNATRA is leading the investigation, and Naval Air Systems Command is conducting its own engineering investigation.
“Initially, all T-45C Goshawk aircraft entered an operational pause July 10 while CNATRA, Naval Air Forces and NAVAIR assessed the fleet’s ability to safely resume flying,” CNATRA officials said. “Since then, Navy stakeholders and industry teammates have determined that a portion of the fleet is capable to return to flight, and NAVAIR has validated that recommendation.”
Serviceable aircraft returned to flight on July 24, while NAVAIR continues to assess the status of the other remaining aircraft, according to CNATRA.
Although the investigation is ongoing, CNATRA officials declined to “speculate on any potential relationship” between this mishap and previous ones.
In October 2022, the Navy paused operations for the T-45 fleet “to review an engine blade fault,” and operations resumed less than three weeks later.
The service also paused operations for the Goshawk fleet in April when an aircraft suffered an “engine blade failure due to a manufacturing defect on a low-pressure compressor blade,” CNATRA said.
These incidents all qualified as Class A mishaps, which the Navy classifies as those involving death, $2.5 million or more in damages or the destruction of an aircraft.
The Navy and Marine Corps utilize the T-45 for its pilot training program for jet carrier aviation and tactical strike missions. The Navy first introduced the T-45C variant to the fleet in 1997.
