By Kristina Wong | Breitbart News
At least three dozen service members have been killed in military aviation mishaps in one year — a concerning trend at a time of increasing U.S. tension with Russia, Iran, and China.
Also concerning is that a council at the Pentagon, created in 2022 and aimed at preventing military aviation mishaps, instead discussed motorcycle accidents at a July 2023 meeting.
Meanwhile, over the last 12 months, there have been at least 16 non-combat military aviation mishaps that have led to the deaths of at least 36 service members.
According to reports, these mishaps include: . . . . (LONG list)
Venable: Disconcerting That Mishaps Happening During “Benign” Training
Jon Venable, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Air Force F-16 fighter pilot, in a recent interview, called the recent spike in mishaps “disconcerting.”
Venable said that in the 1980s, pilots trained hard in preparation for a war with the Soviet Union and flew aggressive tactics at low altitudes — 100 to 300 feet at 480 to 540 knots, which resulted in a high number of mishaps. “You don’t get many missteps. You actually have to be very good at that,” he said.
However, he said that beginning in the 2000s, pilots flew in very low-threat environments at medium altitudes. While the number of mishaps has dropped since the 80s, the training has become “benign.”
“It’s benign training. They’re flying at medium altitude; they’re not having to respond to threats,” he said. “And so, you come all the way to today. We’re still flying benign training. The military is flying medium altitude, very low threat tactics, by and large, almost across the board and training to that.”
He said that even when flying for high-threat tactics, pilots are still training at medium altitude. “They’re not training at low altitude,” he said.
“It is a spike, and the spike should be disconcerting because of the way we’re flying — because of the lack of high-intensity training scenarios and low-altitude structure. We’re doing it at medium altitude, and we’re still suffering a growing number of accidents,” he said.
“Many of the accidents and mishaps are going to and coming from airspace, or they are actually in the landing or takeoff phase,” he added.
Cause of “Spike” in Mishaps: Insufficient Flying Hours
Venable, who authored the Heritage Foundation’s recent 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength section on the Air Force, believes the mishaps are due to pilots and aircrews not getting enough training time.
He said that as an Air Force F-16 fighter pilot who graduated from the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, or “Top Gun,” he flew four to six times a week. He added that now, pilots fly only one to two times a week.
“We’re not giving people the basic training time that they need in order to actually propagate safe flying,” he said. . . . .
Venable: Leadership “Enamored” with Things “Not Involving Flying”
As far as what could fix the problem, Venable believes the problem is not funding but leadership prioritizing training and readiness. He said the Air Force’s budget was boosted under the Trump administration, but Air Force leaders decided to ramp up spending on Research Testing Development and Evaluation (RTD&E) instead of focusing on training and readiness.
“It’s gotten much worse under the Biden administration,” he said, adding, “The Air Force is basically more enamored with things that are not involving flying than they are with things that are involved in flying.”
“They continue to invest for something that will be here ten or 15 years down the line, but they don’t invest in procuring aircraft today, nor do they invest in procuring flying hours,” he said.
“This year, the Air Force will fund fewer flying hours than it has in its history — that’s through the Carter administration, that’s through the lows of sequestration. It is significantly below even sequestration numbers.”
“And it is horrific what the service’s leadership is doing to the service,” he added. . . . (read more on Breitbart News)
Can confirm. A close friend was delayed for a year in joining 10 years ago when the Officer Selection Officer (OSO) told him that his spot was taken that year because “they needed to fill a quota that had a different skin color than him.”
He went on to become a pilot still and…
— Joshua Hoppe (@JHippityHoppe) February 13, 2024
SHOE: “There ARE DEI hires though. Not directly into aviation, but if you factor in the service academies and other commissioning sources, then it adds up once they get to the force. However, DEI initiatives as a whole across the force are driving decisions in every corner of the DOD. Their priority is clear, and it’s not fixing this colossal issue.”
HOPPE: “Can confirm. A close friend was delayed for a year in joining 10 years ago when the Officer Selection Officer (OSO) told him that his spot was taken that year because “they needed to fill a quota that had a different skin color than him.”
He went on to become a pilot still and was not going through a service academy (he went to the same Christian college as myself). I don’t think he’s willing to speak publicly about this yet, but I do believe he’s planning on getting out and going to the airlines soon like many military pilots do.
For clarification, he was a stellar candidate who was extremely motivated, a great leader, and had a perfect fitness score. The only thing that delayed him from joining was a DEI quota. He’s a great pilot today. Not sure about the other DEI hire.”
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