Pilot, Student Missing Following The Accident

A T-45C Goshawk Navy trainer went down Sunday in the Cherokee National Forest on Sunday, and the status of the two pilots on board is still undetermined, according to military officials.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that the plane went down about a quarter mile east of the Pheasant Fields picnic area near the Tellico Trout Hatchery. The plane is believed to be from Meridian Mississippi.

"At approximately 6 p.m., Training Air Wing 1, based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, Mississippi, was made aware of the reports of a jet crash near Tellico Plains, Tennessee, in the Cherokee National Forest," the navy said in a news release.

"Training Air Wing 1 and Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) are investigating the possibility that it is a T-45 from Training Air Wing 1 based out of NAS Meridian, Mississippi.

"At this time, we know the wing had a T-45C Goshawk training in the vicinity of Tellico Plains that has not yet returned to the air station.

"Two pilots were aboard the aircraft, an instructor and a student. Their status is unknown at this time.

"Training Air Wing 1 is one of five training wings that belong to CNATRA."

The paper reports that helicopters from the University of Tennessee Medical Center and the Knox County Sheriff's office flew over the area looking for parachutes, but did not find any. Mason Boring, a wilderness ranger with the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards told the paper that he was a Goshawk flying over the boat ramp at Indian Boundary Lake at a high rate of speed late in the afternoon, but added that such flights are "not uncommon" in the area.

(Image from file. Not accident aircraft)

FMI: Original Report, www.cnatra.navy.mil