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Following Navy T-45C Mishap, Cleanup Near Completion in Orange Grove Neighborhood

31 March 2021

From Susan Brink

ORANGE GROVE, Texas - Members from the Navy On-Scene Coordinator team from Jacksonville, Florida, are near completion of their environmental cleanup after a Navy T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft crashed near Orange Grove, Texas, last week.

The United States Navy is near completion of an environmental cleanup after a Navy T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft assigned to Training Air Wing 2 out of Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, crashed near Orange Grove, March 24.

Members of the Navy On-Scene Coordinator (NOSC) program for Navy Region Southeast (NRSE), out of Jacksonville, Florida, arrived on scene March 25 to assist safety and investigation teams, and to evaluate the site for environmental impacts.

The team spent the weekend removing the wreckage and soil at the site, which is approximately three miles off Naval Outlying Field Orange Grove. The team took soil samples and conducted lab tests as part of the environmental cleanup. They walked through two additional properties in the area picking up any visible debris and conducted additional soil testing on site.

“Test results show we have a clean base to bring in backfill (soil) at the crash site,” said John Baxter, NOSC at Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southeast and NRSE. “No additional work was required at neighboring properties.”

The NOSC provides emergency cleanup services for Navy incidents that may have an environmental impact to a base or the local community.

“This was a very difficult time for everyone in close vicinity of this rural area,” Baxter said. “We are very thankful for the support we have received from the neighboring residents and the local community as we temporarily closed County Road 308 to assess damage to property and conduct the environmental cleanup. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone touched by this incident.”

The crash investigation is ongoing

  
 

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