VT-7 Squadron Member Lost In T-45C Mishap

The release from the Navy was brief, all business. It told of the death of a student pilot of VT-7, a training squadron based at NAS Meridian, MS. The pilot's name was withheld to give the next of kin 24 hours to grieve in private.

But the day after the crash, word was spreading around the pilot's alma mater, the Daytona campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, that the victim was Steven Ray Elledge, '02.

"Steve was a very active student leader on the Daytona Beach campus, serving three years on the Housing staff as both a Resident Advisor and a Resident Director.... Steve was highly regarded by his fellow students and faculty, and particularly by the Residence Life staff," Associate Dean of Students Sonja Taylor wrote in an email to students and faculty, which was sent by PR Director Jim Hampton after the Navy's embargo lifted Wednesday night.

Elledge was on a routine training flight, part of the VT-7 strike syllabus, and was alone in his plane, a T-45C Goshawk jet trainer, when he crashed at about 1825 Tuesday one mile south of McCain Field at NAS Meridian. The accident is under investigation.

In a photograph Elledge stands in front of a VT-7 Goshawk with that "I can't believe they pay me to fly this" grin on his face.

He is survived by his wife, the former Sylvia Rodriguez, a 2003 ERAU Daytona graduate.

Aero-News wishes to extend our most profound sympathy to Mrs Elledge and Steve's other family and friends. Steve Elledge is a reminder to us all that our freedom is not free, and even far away from the war zones, sometimes people like Steve -- and Sylvia -- are called on to make a payment, on behalf of all of us.

FMI: www.navy.mil