Two U.S. Air Force pilots on a training mission were forced to eject from their single gas-turbine engine, propeller-driven plane Thursday during a “controlled bailout” in Texas.
Joint Base San Antonio reported in a news release that the two were flying a T-6A Texan II aircraft near the Texas city of Seguin when they began receiving “unsafe landing gear indications.”
After consulting with “experts,” the two pilots performed a controlled bailout, which refers to a process in which a pilot steers a plane toward a safe position before abandoning it.
The plane later reportedly crashed east of San Antonio.
USAF T-6A 08-3913 has crashed east of San Antonio, TX after squawking 7700 (along with T-6A 04-3737, which landed safely back at Randolph.)
Both occupants ejected safely, and appear to be okay.
#AE1E8E #AE13B7 https://t.co/kDz06pzTkf
— Nick ✈︎ (@N214WN) October 23, 2026
The pilots survived the ejection.
Should military training protocols be reviewed after this incident?
Yes, definitely
25% (1 vote)
Maybe, depends on findings
50% (2 votes)
No, they are sufficient
25% (1 vote)
“Both pilots are currently being evaluated by local medical personnel,” 12th Flying Training Wing spokesperson Sean Worrell told the San Antonio Express-News.
The outlet added that the T-6A Texan II is produced by Raytheon Aircraft and designed chiefly “to train Joint Primary Pilot Training (JPPT) students in basic flying skills common to Air Force and Navy pilots.”
According to the San Antonio Express-News, the plane contains a single cockpit that “places one crewmember in front of the other, with the student and instructor positions being interchangeable.”
A pilot may reportedly also fly the plane alone from the front seat.
After Thursday’s incident, Martin-Baker, a British manufacturer of ejection seats, took credit for the pilots’ safe ejection.
In a post published to the social media site X, the company alleged that 7,833 lives total have been saved thanks to its ejection technology.
Yesterday, a U.S. Air Force T-6A Texan II crashed near Seguin, Texas.
Both pilots successfully ejected using the Martin-Baker US16LA Ejection Seat.
#EngineeringForLife https://t.co/zaJiZ8nMP9
— Martin-Baker (@MB_EjectEject) October 23, 2026
The pilots aboard the now-crashed plane are assigned to the 12th Flying Training Wing at Joint Base San Antonio.
“The 12th Flying Training Wing, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, develops the next generation of Air Force aviators and enlisted aircrew by providing world-class flying training and education,” according to Air Education and Training Command.
The unit specifically trains pilots “in the fundamentals of airmanship, instruction and leadership, preparing them for success in operational units across the Air Force,” AETC further noted.
Thursday’s crash came exactly a month after a F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing crashed at the Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, as reported by the Associated Press.
The single pilot aboard the craft survived, but sustained “minor injuries,” the Air Force reported.
An American military aircraft crashed at a U.S. air base in western Germany on Tuesday, injuring the pilot, the American military said. https://t.co/fmicNFwygv
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 23, 2026
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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