Air Force lifts T-38 pause, Laughlin training flights to resume soon
Laughlin’s T-38s are clearing inspections and should be back in the air within days, restoring a pilot-training pipeline that had shifted hard to simulators.
The Air Force’s decision to lift the T-38 Talon pause should start restoring flight activity at Laughlin Air Force Base, where the jet trainer is central to the pace of pilot instruction and the daily rhythm on the flight line.
The service lifted the fleet-wide operational pause on May 28 and said the next day that inspected aircraft would begin returning to flying status within days. The pause began after a May 12 mishap at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, when a T-38 Talon II was involved in an incident around noon. Two pilots ejected safely, and the cause remained under investigation by a Safety Investigation Board.
The pause reached across Air Education and Training Command, Air Combat Command, Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Global Strike Command. During that time, aircrews were directed to maximize simulator training to maintain proficiency and currency requirements. At Laughlin, that meant the training pipeline had to rely more heavily on simulators while aircraft, schedules and maintenance planning adjusted around the grounded fleet.
That matters here because Laughlin’s 47th Operations Group trains U.S. Air Force and allied-nation pilots in the Undergraduate Pilot Training Program, and base mission materials describe Laughlin as executing the Air Force’s premier pilot training program with the T-6 Texan II and the T-38 Talon. When the T-38 fleet pauses, student progression, instructor scheduling and sortie planning all feel the pressure. When the jets return, the wing can begin working back toward a normal training tempo.
The scale of that tempo is substantial. At a May 28 change-of-command ceremony, outgoing 47th Flying Training Wing commander Col. Tyler Ellison was credited with overseeing more than 71,000 sorties and producing more than 700 combat-ready pilots. The T-38 has been the Air Force’s primary jet trainer since the 1960s, and the service says more than 70,000 pilots have trained in it. The T-7A Red Hawk is intended to replace the aging platform, with reporting pointing to a 2027 transition timeline.
For Del Rio and Val Verde County, the return of the T-38 fleet is more than an internal maintenance milestone. Laughlin remains a major local institution, and Texas Comptroller economic-impact materials identify it as a significant contributor to the state economy. Local reporting tied to a compatible-use study has placed its regional impact at about $1.6 billion and 8,694 direct and indirect jobs, while county records show a proposed $985,000 Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant for a Tactical Aircrew Fitness Complex at Laughlin. As the inspected aircraft come back online, the base’s flight schedule should begin tightening back up, along with the broader military and civilian activity built around it.
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