Warbird Information Exchange

Here are links to the two accident reports:

The Columbus crash:
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123109949

The Sheppard crash:
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123109947


From the Columbus accident report it states:

"The accident investigation board determined the cause of this mishap to be mechanical failure of the right aileron, which failed in the full down position before takeoff."

Can somebody who has worked on T-38's explain to me how an aileron could fail in the full down position?

They are hydraulically actuated.

Without getting too much into Safety Board kind of detail, there are numerous "fly to fail" parts in the T-38 flight control system. In other words, they are not inspected/replaced at regular time intervals.