US Navy officials taxi in a T-45C Goshawk prior to a proficiency flight. Credit: US Naval Air Systems Command.

The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has announced that the service has lifted the temporary operational pause on some of the T-45 Goshawk aircraft.

The order to resume operations, which is effective from 1 November, was directed by the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA).

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Issued on 14 October, the temporary halt order was imposed to investigate and review the cause of the aircraft’s engine blade failure.

The T-45 fleet underwent an engineering analysis process, and it was discovered that one of the subsets of engine blades was different from the original manufacturer’s engine specifications.

Such trainer jets will continue to remain grounded, while the aircraft whose subset is like the engine specifications will be allowed to resume operations.

Meanwhile, the effort to obtain operational status for more aircraft will be continued by the US Navy and its industry partner Rolls Royce.

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Both will assess the available engineering data on the grounded T-45 Goshawk aircraft’s non-conforming parts.

CNATRA rear admiral Richard Brophy said: “The process of returning to operations is based on engineering analysis by NAVAIR, with most important decision being the safety of our aviators.

“The aircraft we are flying are verified and known-good.”

Until the evaluation is complete and all the aircraft resume operations, the training air squadrons and wings will work to increase the ground-based training for the US Navy and Marine Corps pilots.

It includes simulator training, classroom lectures and other computer-based training.

Tactical Aircraft Programmes executive officer rear admiral John Lemmon said: “Our Navy teams and industry partner are diligently and thoroughly analysing all facets of this issue to determine safe and expeditious way forward for rest of T-45 fleet to return to flight.”