Coast Guard Officer Killed in Navy Trainer Crash Identified

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Coast Guard Ensign Morgan Garrett, of Waxhaw, N.C., died when her aircraft went down in a neighborhood in Foley, Alabama, Oct. 23, 2020. (U.S. Coast Guard)
Coast Guard Ensign Morgan Garrett, of Waxhaw, N.C., died when her aircraft went down in a neighborhood in Foley, Alabama, Oct. 23, 2020. (U.S. Coast Guard)

A Coast Guard officer has been identified as one of two service members who died Friday in the crash of a T-6B Texan II trainer in Alabama.

Ensign Morgan Garrett, of Waxhaw, N.C., died when her aircraft went down in a neighborhood in Foley, striking two cars and a house, according to local news reports. One other person in the plane also died, but has not yet been identified.

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Garrett was a 2019 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, where she served as regimental activities officer and was a middle distance runner on the track and field team, according to a message to cadets and family members from Superintendent Rear Adm. Bill Kelly.

At the academy, Garrett was a Marine and Environmental Sciences major who made the athletic director's and commandant of cadet's list every semester, according to Kelly.

"I offer my sincerest condolences to her family, friends, classmates and shipmates ... she left an indelible mark on her classmates and the entire community, and she will be sorely missed by all," Kelly wrote.

As a student at Weddington High School in Matthews, N.C., Garrett was a member of the National Honor Society and captain of her track and cross-country teams, and she finished sixth in the state in 2015 in the 4 x 800 relay.

Garrett and the yet-to-be-identified service member in the T-6 crash are the Navy's first aviation-related fatalities in more than a year. The Naval Safety Center announced Tuesday that the Navy and Marine Corps recorded no aviation-related deaths in fiscal 2020, which ended Sept. 30.

The T-6 is a tandem-seat turboprop trainer mainly used to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots. Navy officials did not immediately respond Friday to questions about where the flight originated, or how long the plane had been in the air.

The crash comes three days after a Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed in California during a routine training flight. That pilot ejected safely and was treated at a local medical facility.

According to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, no civilians were injured on the ground.

"[Defense Department] and Navy personnel will be handling the investigation and will provide further updates," the office tweeted Friday.

-- Gina Harkins contributed to this report.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

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