ALABAMA – The jet landed around 5 p.m. in a wooded residential area near the Montgomery Regional Airport, but it is not believed to have harmed any bystanders. The aircraft was assigned to the 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi.
“It is with a heavy heart that I tell you both of our teammates from the 50th Flying Training Squadron were killed in the accident,” said Col. Seth Graham, 14th Flying Training Wing commander. “Please keep the families of these Airmen in your thoughts and prayers. Losing teammates is unbelievably painful, but we will get through this together.
The pilots were flying from Columbus to Tallahassee on a training mission. The base is the first training ground for undergraduate pilots, and it trains more than 350 pilots a year, Graham said during a press conference on Saturday.
“Our mission here is to take citizens off the streets and turn them into world-class pilots,” Graham added.
