Navy training plane crashes in Alabama

A Navy training plane crashed in southern Alabama on Tuesday, forcing the two pilots aboard to eject. 

The T-6B Texan II aircraft, which took off Tuesday morning from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, Fla., crashed near Naval Outlying Landing Field Barin in Foley.  

The Navy instructor pilot and student aviator in the plane were forced to eject at around 10:50 a.m. local time, with only minor injuries reported, according to NAS Whiting Field public affairs. 

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and the incident is under investigation. 

The T-6B, a two-seat turboprop used to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots, has been involved in several mishaps in the past few years, including an October 2020 crash that killed the two occupants aboard. That accident also happened near Foley. 

Prior to that, a trainer plane from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, crashed in May 2019 in Oklahoma, with both pilots ejecting.  

The Navy in 2022 had 17 Class A manned aviation mishaps — incidents in which someone is killed or that involves damages of $2.5 million or more — up from 10 mishaps in 2021, according to Naval Safety Command data. 

The 2022 number reflects the service’s highest total Class A manned mishaps since 2014’s 15 mishaps.