CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, March 26 -- Navy officials said Tuesday they believe they have found the wreckage of a T-44 trainer plane that crashed Monday in the Gulf of Mexico. No trace of the crew was found, and Navy officials said no jettison equipment or parachutes were carried aboard the plane.
An aerial search for the crew was called off late Tuesday, but Navy officials said two ships in the area will continue searching with SONAR equipment. The three men aboard the plane were Marine Capt. John Krafft, an instructor; Marine 1st Lt. Ronald Pahl, a pilot trainee; and Navy Lt. j. g. Robert Roch, a pilot trainee. All three were attached to Navy Training Squadron 31, which is based at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. In Washington, the Marine Corps ordered a 48-hour aviation stand-down to allow investigation of the Texas incident and five other crashes in recent weeks. The order was to take effect no later than midnight and affect all non-essential flight operations, Department of Defense officials said. 'This is an unexplained spate of accidents in the Marine Corps,' said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. 'And they are announcing a 48-hour stand-down of their entire aviation fleet to study and reflect and find out if they can get to the bottom of this.' Monday's crash occurred about 9:20 a.m. as the twin-engine turboprop went down about 25 miles southeast of the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. Officials said the search for the men Tuesday was hampered by high winds and rough seas.
