T-45 down USA - Curt Lewis

Jet crashes at NAS Meridian

A T-45C Goshawk jet crashed at NAS Meridian Wednesday afternoon.

An aircraft crashed Wednesday afternoon at Naval Air Station Meridian, with the student and instructor pilot ejecting before the crash.

Metro Ambulance received a call around 2 p.m. that two people were ejected out of an airplane while training, Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler said.

One complained of neck pain and the other with leg pain.

NAS officials said in a new release the plane, a T-45 jet aircraft assigned to Training Air Wing One, crashed in a heavily wooded area around 1:15 while conducting a training flight.

The student and instructor pilot were able to eject safely near the airfield. NAS first responders were dispatched to the scene and both pilots were taken to a local medical facility.

The aircraft is used for intermediate and advanced portions of the Navy/Marine Corps pilot training program for jet carrier aviation and tactical strike missions, according to the U.S. Navy FactFile website.

The aircraft was valued in 2009 at $17.2 million, according to the Navy Fact File website.