JASDF Trainee Injured After USAF T-38C Trainer Crashes in Alabama

Overview

• A Japan Air Self-Defense Force trainee and a U.S. Air Force instructor ejected from a T-38C during a training flight in Alabama, and both survived.
• The aircraft was assigned to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi and went down east of the base.
• The Japanese second lieutenant in his 20s suffered a fractured left leg but does not have life-threatening injuries.
• U.S. investigators are working to determine the cause, and Japanese officials say key details, including who was piloting, remain unclear.
• The injured flier serves with the Air Training Group at Hamamatsu and was in a fighter pilot development course with about 20 peers, underscoring ongoing U.S.–Japan pilot training.