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A supersonic jet crashed on at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one pilot and hospitalizing another.
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A T-38C Talon crashed at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas on Tuesday, killing a pilot and injuring another.(Photo: U.S. Air Force photo, 82nd Training)

LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — A “supersonic jet” crashed shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday at a Texas military base near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one pilot and hospitalizing another, according to officials.

An Air Force T-38C Talon jet crashed about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday at Laughlin Air Force Base, about 150 miles west of San Antonio. The condition of the surviving pilot was not immediately provided and names are being withheld until next of kin are notified, according to the base’s Facebook page.

The crash comes less than a year after Air Force Capt. Paul J. “Stuck” Barbour was killed when a T-38C Talon crashed about 4 p.m. Nov. 20, 2017, near Lake Amistad. The cause of the crash was listed as total hydraulic failure of the jet’s engine. The other pilot, Capt. Joshua Hammervold, an instructor pilot for the 87th Flying Training Squadron, safely ejected and was treated and released from Val Verde Regional Medical Center. 

Though the T-38’s ejection system should have propelled Barbour from the aircraft, Barbour, who also was an instructor pilot, failed to arm the seat during a preflight checklist and was trapped when the jet crashed about 14 miles outside Del Rio, Texas. 

Laughlin suspended flying after the crash for about a week to give the base time to mourn. 

In September a T-38 crashed at Sheppard AFB near Wichita Falls. 

Both pilots in that crash — German air force pilot Maj. Christian C. Hartmann and U.S. Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Charles T. Walet — ejected from the aircraft. Both survived. 

The crash also comes just days after top leadership at the base near the Texas-Mexico border was relieved of duty. 

Three commanders at the pilot training base in South Texas were removed after incidents that left some personnel feeling unsafe or disrespected, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

In February the Air Force announced it would be phasing out the T-38C Talon and replacing it with the T-X aircraft staring in 2022.

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