Navy says Mississippi and Louisiana pilots died in jet crash

MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) - The Navy says the pilots killed in a training jet that crashed Sunday in Tennessee were from Louisiana and Mississippi.

Lt. Liz Feaster, a Navy spokeswoman, said Tuesday that aboard the plane were 31-year-old instructor Lt. Patrick Ruth from Metairie, Louisiana, and 25-year-old student pilot Lt. j.g. Wallace Burch from Horn Lake, Mississippi.

Both men were stationed at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi. Their T-45C Goshawk went down in the Cherokee National Forest near the southeast Tennessee town of Tellico Plains.

Ruth was a nine-year Navy veteran and had served in a training squadron at Meridian since 2015. Burch had been in the Navy for nearly three years and was assigned to the Meridian training squadron last year.

The Navy is investigating why the plane crashed.