The Navy resumed using the T-45C Goshawk test aircraft on Thursday, the service announced Friday.
Of the 149 aircraft in the fleet, 104 are now in flight status, while the remaining 45 are in maintenance to be released back to flight status, according to a Navy news release.
The T-45C Goshawk fleet was placed on an operational pause in April after an engine malfunctioned on one of the training jets belonging to Training Air Wing One, USNI News previously reported. The engine malfunction was related to a blade fault, USNI News reported at the time. No injuries were reported.
The blade failure may have been due to a manufacturing defect on a low-pressure compressor blade, the Navy said in Friday’s release.
“The T-45s that were returned to flight status contain blades that have been meticulously and methodically inspected as well as blades produced by a different manufacturer that have more than 1.6 million flight hours without a similar manufacturing defect observed. The Navy has returned more than 85 percent of T-45 engines to service,” reads the release.
The T-45C Goshawk is the primary platform used by the Navy and Marine Corps to train aircraft carrier pilots. The Navy is considering replacing the aging class, which the services have used since the 1990s.
The T-45C was also put on a safety pause in 2022 for two weeks after a blade failure in the turbofan engine.
