On October 14, 2022, the Navy grounded its entire fleet of T-45C Goshawk jet trainers “out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our aviators,” according to Rear Adm. Richard Brophy, Chief of Naval Air Training. The proceed affected all 193 aircraft in service. It was taken as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the pilots and the integrity of the training missions after the discovery of an engine blade fault. The safety pause lasted for two weeks as the Navy and its industry partner Rolls Royce investigated the problem, which came to its attention after one of the training aircraft experienced a failure in its low-pressure compressor blade prior to takeoff.
The Navy resumed flight operations for some of its T-45C Goshawk jets in late October 2022. However, in a statement, the Naval Air Systems Command explained their investigation “…has revealed that a subset of T-45C engine blades do not confront the manufacturer’s engine specifications; those aircraft remain grounded,” so it appears the jets affected by the specific engine blade problem remain grounded. The Navy has not disclosed the exact number of jets involved, but the partial resumption of flight operations is an indication that the issue is being addressed but hasn’t been resolved for the entire fleet.
