First Navy Trainer completes biofuel flight at Patuxent River
28 August 2011
A US Navy T-45 training aircraft completed a successful biofuel flight at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Md on 24 August. The “Salty Dogs” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 flew the high-performance jet trainer on a biofuel mixture of petroleum-based JP-5 jet fuel and plant-based camelina.
The T-45 Goshawk is a tandem-seat aircraft used by the Navy and Marine Corps to train pilots on carrier and tactical mission operations.
This is the fifth aircraft successfully tested using biofuel at NAS Patuxent River. Previous aircraft tested include the F/18 E/F, MH-60S, F/A-18 D, and most recently, the MV-22. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ goal is to cut the Navy’s oil usage in half by 2025.
Three additional Navy aircraft are scheduled for biofuel test flights before the end of the year.
Is feeding our war machines with bio-fuels instead of producing lower cost food for a fast growing world population a good decision?
Posted by: HarveyD | 29 August 2011 at 08:52 AM