25 June 1997 – A Third Air Force Academy Slingsby T-3A Firefly crash in 28 months killed senior Cadet Pace Weber, 20, and his instructor, Captain Glen Comeaux, 31. The engine sputtered during a turn at ~500 feet altitude, the aircraft entered a spin and exploded on impact, two miles E of the Colorado Springs academy airfield.
“Their plane had been written up by pilots 10 times for engine problems, including one during the flight immediately before the fatal trip.
The Air Force said the engine was running at impact, although it was producing so little power that the propeller was barely turning. “Although the Academy continues to fly the type, another incident in which the T-3 engine quits in-flight, forcing a dead-stick landing at the airfield, finally leads to USAF to ground the design on 25 July 1997, with the whole fleet eventually scrapped.”
Source: Wikipedia: Portal_Aviation