Trainer plane’s engine apparently cut out
Concern renewed as growth encroaches on air base
Engine failure was the likely cause. That’s what the Air Force has concluded about the crash of a turboprop T-6A Texan II training plane in a field near Rolling Oaks Mall. The two Air Force flyers were able to eject from the craft and suffered only minor injuries. In the photo, the people in the foreground are repairing a wire fence that was cut so first responders could reach the plane.
The Air Force said Wednesday the crash of a T-6A Texan II training plane near Rolling Oaks Mall on the city’s North Side likely was due to engine failure. The pilots, Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Lee Glen and 1st Lt. Nicholas Donato, escaped with minor injuries in the Tuesday afternoon crash. No one was hurt on the ground. The T-6A has been grounded at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. “It appears the aircraft experienced engine failure on final approach at low altitude, configured for landing before our airmen ejected,” Col. Mark Robinson, commander of the 12th Flying Training Wing, said of the T-6 crash, according to a press statement. “The interim safety board will be looking at all aspects of the aircraft, to include the engine components, to determine the cause of the crash.” Amateur video posted on Facebook and YouTube shows two parachutes deploying at around 800 feet as the plane streaked toward the earth in a fast dive. Around eight or nine seconds later, the T-6 hit the ground, breaking in two as it ripped a long gash through the grass in a large field surrounded by suburban development just inside the San Antonio city limits. The pilots ejected from the turboprop trainer, slowly drifted to earth and escaped with scratches
and bruises after landing in the field near Nacogdoches Road just outside Loop 1604. The immediate area, about five miles north of Randolph, is heavily populated and includes the mall, large businesses such as a Costco and Walmart Super Center, and dozens of subdivisions along two major highways. While the T-6 remained grounded at least through the end of Wednesday, Robinson allowed flying operations with the base’s other training aircraft, the T-38C Talon and T-1A Jayhawk, to resume early in the afternoon. The accident, one of five the Air Education and Training Command has had since November 2017 — the others involved three T-38 Talon training jets and an F-16 — held the prospect of reigniting worries that construction in northern Bexar County was incompatible with the high pace of pilot instruction there. Randolph-based aviators learning to become fighter and instructor pilots made 196,393 takeoffs and landings in 2016 — some 30,000 more than San Antonio International Airport — as Randolph commanders and nearby cities have tried to limit development close to its runways, where crash risks are highest. Tuesday’s crash occurred well outside the Accident Potential Zones and other areas near Randolph’s runways where the risks are highest of planes crashing either on takeoff or landing, and where the Air Force wants to limit or halt construction. Bexar County has bought land near Randolph and plans to acquire more to blunt growth there, including older houses built before the Air Force created the zones. Steps to keep the zones clear are part of local government efforts to ensure
The accident, one of five the Air Education and Training Command has had since November 2017 held the prospect of reigniting worries that construction in northern Bexar County was incompatible with the high pace of pilot instruction there.
Randolph doesn’t become a target in a future base-closure round. The installation is one of three major components of San Antonio’s massive military presence, in a joint base that is a leading sector of the regional economy. The Air Force’s chief of staff, Gen. David Goldfein, wouldn’t say in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News last year if the service would move to close or realign missions where suburban encroachment has crossed into installations’ Accident Potential Zones. “I don’t know if there is a direct connection between the encroachment issue and base closure because there’s so much that goes into a discussion about whether to close a base or keep a base open,” Goldfein said, adding he understands how the matter impacts communities. “My responsibility is to build the best Air Force I can build with the resources we are given, to be able to accomplish the missions the nation requires.” That issue became so serious at Randolph that FAA regulations limited the Air Force’s ability to do an air show there after 2015. It isn’t clear if commanders will seek to revive the tradition in 2020. “There are always concerns,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Wednesday. “Which is why I think the accident yesterday proved up the importance of us working together with Joint Base San Antonio to provide for builders and accident zones around the bases.” “The more we can work in concert with those officials, the better protections we have to offer the (military) missions and better protect the residents in the area,” he said. Randy Martin, a spokesman with the 12th Flying Training Wing, said the Air Force “does expect continued growth of population and infrastructure” outside its Accident Potential Zones, adding, “For now, we have a number of efforts in JBSA to address development so that it remains compatible with the mission.” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said there was nothing local officials could do to stop development in the area near the crash site, given its distance from the base. “That’s five miles away. That’s not going to change. Crashes do happen. I know there was a private plane that crashed over by the airport not long ago, killing a number of people,” he said. “Some of those crashes are going to happen whether they’re private planes, commercial or the Air Force. The Air Force, if they want to get away from an urban area, is going to have to go way out to the middle of nowhere, and I don’t know if they want to do that.”