navy trainer goes down in the middle of the 4300 block of flour bluff, TX they didn't make it

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - navy trainer goes down in the middle of the 4300 block of flour bluff, TX they didn't make it

Posted: 1/27/2006 7:25:41 AM EDT

T-34 accident kills instructor, student
Freeport man is identified by his family

By Beth Wilson Caller-Times
January 28, 2006

A Navy flight instructor and student were killed Friday when their training plane crashed three miles south of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

The single-propeller T-34 crashed into a field off Yorktown Boulevard between Linda Lee Road and Madison Street at 9:43 a.m. The T-34C craft, assigned to Training Squadron 27, crashed while conducting routine flight training, said Lt. j.g. Sean Robertson, public affairs officer with the Naval Air Training Command. The pilot's and student's names were not released, pending notification of their families.

But relatives identified one of those killed as Raul David Jimenez, 31, formerly of Freeport, according to The (Brazosport) Facts.

"He loved the service and flying," his mother, Elva Verrett, told The Facts. "The Lord blessed me with a real special son. That was his dream. That was always his dream. I was so proud of him because he accomplished what he always wanted in his life."

Robertson said he had no details on the investigation and wouldn't speculate about a cause. The squadron has suspended operations, he said.

Verrett said she was worried when her son told her he wanted to go Annapolis, but he soothed her.

"He said, 'I can be sleeping by your side, mom, and if I'm going to die, I'm going to die.' I told him, 'just go ahead, you have my blessing.'"

Jimenez and his wife, Laura, were married in July 2004. They have no children.

"We've just lost a fine young man, and that's the bottom line," said Freeport Mayor James Phillips, who was principal at Brazosport High School part of the time that Jimenez was a student. "It just shows, military service has its risks. This was what he wanted to do. So I guess there's a positive factor to it - at least he was doing what he wanted to do."

Jimenez was in the band, on student council and played baseball before he left for the U.S. Naval Academy and later flew helicopters during the early stages of the war on terrorism, Phillips said.

Friday's accident was the second accident involving a T-34 this month. One assigned to the same training squadron crashed Jan. 12 in the flats by the Oso Creek mud bridge, near Yorktown Boulevard, southwest of Waldron Road. Neither the instructor nor student pilot were injured in that crash. That crash remains under investigation.

Navy officials cordoned off Friday's crash site, and interviewed neighbors about what they saw. Corpus Christi Police directed traffic off a stretch of Yorktown between Linda Lee and Waldron.

Nika Miller said she had just stepped outside her grandmother's house on Linda Lee to smoke when she saw, "a plane going nose-down into the ground."

Across the street, Ernest Cavazos was eating breakfast when he heard it.

"All I heard was a plane going by. Then it sounded like it was sputtering. I didn't pay much attention to it," he said. "Then I heard a loud thump."

Next door, the noise woke up Roy Harlow.

He went to his third-story balcony, where he could see the downed plane 200 yards behind his house.

"There was a pretty good fire in two places and a couple of small explosions," he said.

David Torres said the Navy is always flying low over the houses in his neighborhood and should buy out the residents if it wants to continue to do dangerous training.

Helen Williams, also a Linda Lee resident, said, "He was a hell of a pilot, avoiding all these houses."

Harlow said he wasn't worried about the nearby flight training, adding his concrete house was safe.

"The Navy's got a job to do. They've got to train their pilots," Harlow said.

But Lynn Hudler said the area's getting more populated, and that increases her concern about crashes.

"I hadn't been (concerned) until today," she said. "This one was a little close, too close."

Contact Beth Wilson at 886-3748 or wilsonb@ caller.com

Posted: 1/27/2006 7:26:54 AM EDT

[#1]

that'll bluff right out

editted for spelling

Posted: 1/27/2006 8:49:01 AM EDT

[#2]

www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_4420517,00.html

A Beechcraft plane crashed in the Flour Bluff area near Waldron Road and Yorktown Blvd. just before 10 a.m. today.

Emergency vehicles have arrived on scene. It is unknown as to how many people were on the plane.

Officials have closed the roads between Laguna Shores and Waldron, and Yorktown and Waldron to vehicle traffic.

This crash comes 15 days after a Naval two-seat T34 training plane had to perform an emergency landing near Yorktown. The pilot and training pilot both walked away from the crash without injuries.

Heard about it over the radio when I was out paying bills earlier today.

Posted: 1/27/2006 8:55:54 AM EDT

[#3]

I can tell you the pilot and student were both killed.

Posted: 1/27/2006 9:07:30 AM EDT

[#4]

For some of us who don't where Flour Bluff, TX is, I just did a Mapquest and it is a suburb of Corpus Cristi on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Posted: 1/27/2006 9:13:28 AM EDT

[#5]

Beechcraft. Would that be another T-34?

Posted: 1/27/2006 11:03:20 AM EDT

[#6]

heard it went down in a field very near waldron road but missed any buildings

haven't heard status of the pilots

Posted: 1/27/2006 11:11:05 AM EDT

[#7]

Some guy from Las Vegas crashed his private L-39 jet trainer in Ketchikan, AK Wednesday. He ejected but was killed anyway.

Posted: 1/27/2006 11:21:03 AM EDT

[#8]

Military plane crashes near Laguna Shores
By Beth Wilson/Caller-Times
January 27, 2006

A U.S. Navy trainer plane with an instructor pilot and student pilot from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi crashed about three miles south of the base near Laguna Shores Road at about 9:42 a.m. today, a spokeswoman for the Navy said.

The condition of the two pilots has not been released, but the pilots were in a T-34 trainer plane and were attached to the VT-27 Training Squad at NAS-Corpus Christi, according to Fifi Kieshnik, a Naval spokeswoman who is at the scene.

Ambulances and several emergency vehicles surrounded or entered a empty lot near Linda Lee Drive and Laguna Shores Road. A tarp was brought to the empty lot, according to witnesses. Naval investigators are at the scene.

The Naval spokesman said there was a wing mishap but did not go into greater detail. Witnesses said there are trees in the area.

A T-34C, single-engine Naval Turbo Mentor trainer plane did a belly landing in the same area, near the mud bridge over Oso Creek on Jan. 12. The Navy also has not released a report on the cause of that incident. The Navy uses Waldron Field as a practice field.

One witness said he saw the plane fall into the field and then saw a small fire associated with the crash. Others said they heard a thud at the time of the incident.

Authorities have blocked off the crash site while various personnel investigate the scene and closed the roads between Laguna Shores and Waldron, and Yorktown and Waldron to vehicle traffic. It is expected to be closed until at least 2 p.m.

Posted: 1/27/2006 3:14:20 PM EDT

[#9]

Mile and a half from my mom's house. Corpus Christi NAS had several satellite fields at one time, all the way up to Beeville. Now I think Waldron is the only one in use and is 1/8th the size it originally was. All the others have been sold off for private development. It's not much more than a touch and go runway now. I've watched almost a dozen S-2's, T-28's, A-4's and T-34's crash on approach over the years at those fields.

Heck, I used to hunt rabbits on Waldron field. Used to carry a .22 on my bicycle right thru the gate. As long as you stopped, told the tower and stayed off the runway you were fine.

Posted: 1/27/2006 3:18:37 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
The pilot and training pilot both walked away from the crash without injuries. The pilot was overheard telling the student 'That'll buff right out'.

Posted: 1/28/2006 9:56:14 AM EDT

[#11]

updated

both pilots dead

Posted: 1/28/2006 10:06:51 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
updated

both pilots dead

Fuck. I thought there was only one story.

At least the pilots in the other story survived.

Posted: 1/28/2006 10:08:27 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
that'll bluff right out
editted for spelling

You have shown yourself to be a complete worthless shithead with that comment.

Posted: 1/28/2006 10:10:40 AM EDT

[#14]

My first thought was 'how do you have a fatal accident in a WWII Russian tank?'

My second thought was "Why is the navy playing around with WWII Russian tanks?"

My third thought was "D'oh!"

NTM

Posted: 1/28/2006 10:12:21 AM EDT

[#15]

Posted: 1/28/2006 10:16:47 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Quoted:
that'll bluff right out
editted for spelling

You have shown yourself to be a complete worthless shithead with that comment.

Hopefuly he confused the older crash where both pilots survived, with the current one. C4 was also confused according to his last post.

If not, you are correct sir.

Posted: 1/28/2006 10:41:15 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
that'll bluff right out
editted for spelling

You have shown yourself to be a complete worthless shithead with that comment.

Hopefuly he confused the older crash where both pilots survived, with the current one. C4 was also confused according to his last post.

If not, you are correct sir.

im sure he didnt know the outcome of the crash at the time of his post the deaths were not known..

that wll buff out is a stantard arfcom answer,,

he does however need to edit in light of the new info.

cluster

Posted: 1/28/2006 11:35:23 PM EDT

[#18]

Wow, hadn't heard [correctly] about this. On the radio here, the way I heard it was that the crash was near Falfurrias.

John, the one in Beeville wouldn't have been one of CC-NAS' fields, unless they acquired it from Beeville after their base (NAS - Chase Field) was closed. Would it?

Posted: 1/28/2006 11:39:42 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

For some of us who don't where Flour Bluff, TX is, I just did a Mapquest and it is a suburb of Corpus Cristi on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Not a suburb of Corpus. It describes an area between the Cayo Del Oso (bay) and the Intracoastal waterway. It is a part of Corpus proper.

Posted: 1/28/2006 11:51:47 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

im sure he didnt know the outcome of the crash at the time of his post the deaths were not known..

that wll buff out is a stantard arfcom answer,,
cluster

Ah, fuck that! People on here have a desktop shortcut to the weepy-flag thing at the first mention of a Marine getting a parking ticket, etc.

Posted: 1/28/2006 11:55:53 PM EDT

[#21]

ive flown in a t-34 out of Nas whidbey. i think they are fun!!

Posted: 1/29/2006 12:20:17 AM EDT

[#22]

One of my friends lives in Flour Bluff, a few blocks away from where it went down, he wasnt home at the time and didnt learn about it till after the fact.

One of my coworkers lives near that area too, she told me she heard the crash from her house.

Also I'm wondering, so how common is it for these things to crash? This is already the 2nd one in about two weeks, and now they have all been grounded. So is this coincidence, or for those conspiracy theory inclined could it be sabotage, or maybe just incompetance somewhere.

Also now that the planes have been grounded, does this mean that all beginner pilot training for the Navy is halted for now? Or is there anywhere else in the US that they train on those?

Posted: 1/30/2006 7:45:31 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
Quoted:
that'll bluff right out
editted for spelling

You have shown yourself to be a complete worthless shithead with that comment.

As per others comments.....my remarks were in reference to the previous event.

kaeb, you have shown that you jumped the gun on your worthless shithead comment.

Why in the fuck do you think I'd make jokes about someones death?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - navy trainer goes down in the middle of the 4300 block of flour bluff, TX they didn't make it

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