Navy T-45 jet believed to have crashed in Tennessee with 2 on board

The U.S. Navy said a T-45 jet is believed to have crashed near Tellico Plains, Tennessee. (AP, File)

The U.S. Navy said it was investigating reports of a military jet that crashed near Tellico Plains, Tennessee, on Sunday evening, as it appeared unlikely that the crew survived.

The Navy told reporters a T-45 jet was missing after it took off from Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi with an instructor and student pilot on board.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said the jet crashed in the Cherokee National Forest near a fish hatchery.

The Navy tweeted Sunday night that it was “investigating reports of crash” as well as noting “#USNavy T-45C was training near area.”

The Navy grounded all 197 training jets indefinitely in April, following an exclusive Fox News report that pilots were refusing to fly the T-45s. In the last five years, physiological episodes, caused in part by problems with the oxygen system, nearly quadrupled on the T-45 training jet, according to Capitol Hill testimony in April by senior naval aviators.

The T-45 is used to train all U.S. Navy student pilots in jet aircraft.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.