National Test Pilot School Trainer Crashes at Edwards, 2 Pilots Successfully Eject

An Impala MB326 jet trainer from the National Test Pilot School crashed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on the morning of March 5, the school and 412th Test Wing both confirmed to Air Force Magazine.

The trainer took off from the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, Calif., before coming down “in an uninhabited area” of the California installation, the wing wrote in a release.

“At the time of the accident, the aircraft was providing flight test training,” the school wrote in a statement provided to the magazine. The jet’s two pilots, who haven’t been publicly identified, both successfully ejected and were transported to a nearby hospital, the base later tweeted.

The school, which is located on-site at the port, said that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was alerted to the incident.

“The mission of the National Test Pilot School is to educate and train military and civilian aviation personnel so that each graduate increases flight test competency, improves flight test and aviation safety, and enhances the aerospace profession world-wide,” the school’s homepage states

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on March 5 at 4:49 p.m. EST to include information from the National Test Pilot School.