https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/20/military-plane-crashes-lake-worth-texas-injuring-both-pilots/8416924002/LAKE WORTH, Texas — A military training jet crashed Sunday in a neighborhood near Fort Worth, Texas, injuring the two pilots and damaging three homes but not seriously hurting anyone on the ground, authorities said.
Both pilots managed to eject from the plane before it crashed in Lake Worth, which is just west of Fort Worth, authorities said at a news conference.
"This incident could have been much worse knowing that this plane went down in a residential area," Lake Worth Fire Chief Ryan Arthur said of the crash, which was reported to authorities shortly before 11 a.m.
One of the pilots was electrocuted after being caught in power lines, Lake Worth police said in a statement, adding that "although badly burnt, the pilot was conscious, alert and breathing." Police said the the second pilot was found in a wooded area a short distance away. Both were taken to area hospitals.
The chief of naval air training in Corpus Christi, Texas said in a Facebook post Sunday evening that the instructor pilot was in stable condition, while the student naval aviator was in serious condition.
Police said that three people in the neighborhood sustained minor injuries, and at least one was taken to the hospital.
The jet was a Navy T-45C Goshawk assigned to Training Air Wing 2 at Naval Air Station Kingsville, about 420 miles south of Lake Worth, the chief of naval air training said in the post. The post says they were conducting a routine training flight that originated from the Corpus Christi International Airport, about 350 miles south of Lake Worth along the Gulf Coast.
Three homes were damaged and three residents of those homes were treated at the scene and released, the Fort Worth Fire Department said. The crash cut power to 44 homes in the area, and utility crews were working to restore it.
"We are incredibly fortunate that the plane crashed in the backyards of the homes and not the residences themselves," the Fort Worth department said.
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