US Navy jet crashes in Texas, pilots hospitalised

WASHINGTON: Two US military pilots were rescued and taken to hospital after their training jet crashed into the backyard of a residence in a Texas neighbourhood near Fort Worth, authorities said.

Three homes were damaged in the suburb of Lake Worth, where the pilots ejected before their small US Navy jet crashed about one block from a middle school on Sunday.

“No resident was injured. The two pilots have been transported to the hospital,” Lake Worth Fire Chief Ryan Arthur told reporters.

“This incident could have been much worse, knowing that this plane went down in a residential area in Lake Worth,” he said, adding that the aircraft fortunately crashed in a backyard.

The US Naval Air Training Command (Cnatra) said a Navy T-45C Goshawk jet, a training plane often used on aircraft carriers, crashed about 3km from a Fort Worth military base.

“The instructor pilot is in stable condition; the student naval aviator’s condition is unknown but he is alive and receiving treatment,” the command said in a tweet.

The pilots were conducting a routine training flight that originated from Corpus Christi International Airport. “The cause of the crash is unknown” and under investigation, according to Cnatra.