Training aircraft grounded

The Air Force temporarily grounded nearly 300 trainer aircraft over concerns that ejection seats may not fire correctly, Air Force Times has learned. The service stopped flying 203 T-38 Talons and 76 T-6 Texan IIs that may be affected, Air Force spokesperson Aryn Lockhart confirmed Thursday. That's about 40 percent of the T-38 fleet and 15 percent of the T-6 fleet, including planes at each undergraduate pilot training base and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The groundings come after the ejection seat manufacturer discovered a potential defect with the explosive cartridges that allow a pilot to escape. The T-38 is a supersonic jet used to prepare pilots to fly fighter and bomber aircraft, and the T-6 is the service’s turboprop plane used to teach basic flight skills. The Navy and Marines also grounded some of their aircraft. Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd. makes the ejection seats for the trainers, along with the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Air Force’s F-35 Lightning II and a host of other aircraft flown by dozens of military organizations. (Sources: Air Force Times via Yahoo, San Antonio Express-News, 07/28/22)