FALCON, Colo — Second Lt. Anthony D. Wentz, a student pilot killed Friday morning in what Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas is calling a mishap between two trainer aircraft on a runway, graduated from Falcon High School in 2016 and told The Gazette a few weeks before accepting his diploma that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps as a pilot.
“I’ve always wanted to serve in the military,” he said at the time, before heading to a four-year appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.
Two other pilots were injured in the accident that killed Wentz, 23, a member of the 47th Student Squadron, according to a news release from the 47th Flying Training Wing.
The supersonic T-38 Talon jet trainer is mostly used to prepare airmen to fly fighter and bomber planes, according to the Air Force.
The pilot in critical condition was airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, the 47th Flying Training Wing said in its release. The other injured pilot was treated and released from Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, where the base is located along the Texas border with Mexico.
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