A former Florence resident was one of two pilots killed Wednesday after their trainer aircraft crashed at Columbus Air Force Base.

A news release from the base stated the T-38C Talon crashed about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. Both pilots died at the scene, according to reports.

Air Force officials withheld the names of the pilots. Friends and family, however, said one of the pilots was Major David Blair Faulkner.

Faulkner is a 1992 graduate of the University of North Alabama and attended Mars Hill Bible School in Florence. He and his wife, Rachel, have two children, David, 2, and Campbell, 6 months.

WCBI-TV in Columbus reported the base runways were closed after the accident and that other Air Force planes were diverted to nearby Golden Triangle Regional Airport, which usually handles commercial flights.

The T-38C Talon is a twin-engine, high-altitude jet trainer. Sources who spoke to WCBI-TV said the plane was landing when the crash occurred.

This is the third plane from the base to crash since January 2007, but it is the first accident that caused deaths.

Two T-6 Texan II primary trainers, which are propeller-driven aircraft, collided and crashed in November during training flights over rural east Mississippi, but all on board parachuted to safety.

Faulkner’s aunt, Fidelis Harper, said his parents and his wife’s parents left Florence on Wednesday en route to Columbus. She said the family had very little information about the accident.

“He was a very thorough, meticulous pilot,” Harper said.

Flying was something Faulkner had wanted to do since he was a little boy, she said.

“He once said, ‘I can’t believe anyone would pay me to do what I do.’ He loved it so much,” Harper said. “It’ just hard to believe.”

She said Faulkner was active in his church in Columbus and in his previous church in Louisiana where he was involved in the singles ministry. He was ordained a deacon while in Louisiana.

“Blair loved people and was such an outgoing person. He loved the Lord,” Harper said. “It was evident in everything he did. He had a sense of humor, and he always was into things,” she said, laughing gently.

“And he loved his family and those children.”

Faulkner was among four pilots who flew T-38C jets in a flyover performance during the annual Spirit of Freedom Celebration last July in McFarland Park. They were from the 43rd Flying Training Squadron, which is based at Columbus. The flyover, which was the first ever for the celebration, was a huge success among spectators.

Harper said Faulkner served a tour of duty in Afghanistan and Turkey.