CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The future of naval aviation landed on the runaway at NAS-Corpus Christi Thursday afternoon. The T-54 is the Navy's brand new training plane, two of the models are already parked at the air station right beside the old T-44's. Officials told 3NEWS this T-54 is not only newer, but it's bigger, faster and better equipped than the old trainer.
Kerry Bistline is the Titles Commander of the METS Fixed Wing Training Program. 3NEWS asked him how the plane handled after his flight from Wichita, Kansas back to the Air Station.
"It handled pretty well at 28,000 feet at about 180 knots indicated," Bistline said. "It's got an extended range compared to the T-44. It's a lot faster cruise and the pressure control is really nice so it was a smooth ride."
This training program is going to have 25 of the new planes for pilots to train on beginning in January 2025.
The first thing most people are going to notice is that the old orange and white paint scheme is gone.
"They definitely changed from the orange and white what they kind of call a 'clown car color' to more of a sleek design that's going to be more fitting with the fleet," Lt. Commander Brian Abe said.
Another good thing about the plane is very little maintenance will have to be done. "Obviously it's a new plane, it's going to be easier to maintain," Abe said. "The older planes have been around since the 1970s, so the parts are not there as much as we would like them to be. So, the advantage this one is that it is a commercial aircraft so we can go out to any vendor and be able to find the parts pretty quickly."
The T-44's have been in service since 1977 and will be slowly phased out of the training program as the T-54 takes over the runways at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi.