USAF AIB - Northrop T-38C Talon US Air Force (USAF) 68-8099 [19 February 2021]

Описание: The T-38C impacted the terrain short of Runway 28 while performing an instrument approach at Montgomery Regional Airport (Dannelly Field), Montgomery, Alabama (AL). The Mishap Instructor Pilot (MIP) was a First Assignment Instructor Pilot (FAIP), and the Mishap Student Pilot (MSP) was a Japanese student pilot. Both pilots were assigned to the 14th Flying Training Wing (14 FTW) and flew with
the 50th Flying Training Squadron (50 FTS) at Columbus Air Force Base (AFB), Mississippi.
The sortie was the first leg of an off-station student cross-country mission. Due to a recent winter storm, the sortie was also the first sortie flown by the MIP and MSP in nine days.
The Mishap Crew (MC) planned to fly to Dannelly Field, execute a circling instrument approach, and then continue to Tallahassee International Airport, Tallahassee, Florida for a full stop landing.
The MSP flew the downwind leg of the circling approach configured with landing gear down and locked, 60% flap setting, and displaced 1.9 NM from the runway. The MSP was 18 knots above final turn speed and 0.4 NM wide when he began the turn to final. Due to undershooting the final turn, the MIP directed the MSP to roll out on an approximately 40-degree intercept heading to final approach and directed the MSP to slow down. The MSP retracted the throttles to idle and started a 30-35 degree left bank turn to align with the runway. As the aircraft decelerated through 164 KCAS (8 knots below final approach speed), the MIP took control of the aircraft, rolled wings level, pitched up, and then advanced the throttles to max afterburner. At this time, the throttles had been at idle for 18 seconds, and the aircraft had decelerated to 155 KCAS (17 knots below final approach speed), and was descending through 250 feet mean sea level at 1,100 feet per minute sink rate. The aircraft impacted the ground seconds later, approximately 1,800 feet from the approach end of runway 28. Both the MIP and MSP were fatally injured on impact.

Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2