Two Columbus Air Force Base pilots died today when a Columbus Air Force Base T-38C Talon trainer crashed at about 12:30 p.m. on the base.

The names of the pilots were withheld until relatives could be notified.

A safety investigation board of officers will be convened to investigate the accident.

WCBI-TV in Columbus reported that witnesses saw a large plume of smoke coming from the base. The runways were closed and some other Air Force planes were diverted to nearby Golden Triangle Regional Airport, which usually handles commercial flights.

This is the third plane from the base to crash since January 2007, but it is the first accident that caused deaths.

Additional details will be provided as they become available.

Two T-6 Texan II primary trainers, which are propeller driver aircraft, collided and crashed in November during training flights over rural east Mississippi, but all on board parachuted to safety.

And in January 2007, two airmen aboard a jet ejected safely before their plane crashed in rural Panola County, officials said. That crash also involved a T-38C, the same type jet that went down Wednesday.



Staff writer Brian Livingston and the Associated Press contributed to this report.