http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19909/thunderbirds-f-16-pilot-pronounced-dead-in-nevada-crash
What a shame. :'(
https://twitter.com/thewarzonewire/status/981966341094567936
What a terrible week for US military aviation. :-\
yeah, very tough week. Sounds like the Harrier pilot that ejected is going to be okay.
damn
https://taskandpurpose.com/more-troops-killed-air-crashes-afghanistan-crisis/
https://twitter.com/PaulSzoldra/status/981995010022395904
Is this mostly due to budget issues or are there other factors
I don't think anyone has a definite answer at this point.
Budget cuts could certainly lead to both pilot/ATC exhaustion/errors and also maintenance neglect/errors. The quality of related documentation (or lack thereof) for the aircraft in question will certainly shed light on some of the possibilities.
Condolences to the pilot's friends and family.
RIP Major Bagno.
Damn. Another crash yesterday
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/04/07/two-soldiers-killed-in-apache-helicopter-crash-at-fort-campbell
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/08/the-death-toll-for-rising-aviation-accidents-133-troops-killed-in-five-years/
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20019/life-on-the-flight-line-confessions-of-a-u-s-marine-f-a-18-hornet-maintainer
What the hell are we spending our defense budget on?
thats a lot of payroll,pensions and medical in that budget. people seem to forget that.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on April 10, 2018, 08:06:41 PM
thats a lot of payroll,pensions and medical in that budget. people seem to forget that.
I am sure you're right. But this is still a sad situation for our military fliers to be faced with. You would think there would be a better solution.
When we evaluate new systems, we usually break it down into operational effectiveness (how lethal is it), operational suitability (mostly reliability and maintainability), and survivability. The emphasis is almost overwhelmingly on effectiveness, and we have to fight tooth and nail to do anything on reliability and maintainability. We rated the F-22 as effective but not suitable because of its reliability problems and high maintenance demands. Once they heard that it was effective, few people cared about the rest of the story. The F-35 was supposed to be revolutionary with its prognostic health management system and be so reliable, but I doubt that those promises will come true but nobody will care much. We do this with every program.
For the Hornet fleet - a lot of our systems got worn out over the last 15 or so years of war. They far exceeded their planned peacetime optempo and accumulated more hours than expected. Oddly, at the same time, flight hours stateside are barely adequate to maintain proficiency. Sequestration and the constant cycle of CRs messed up our budgets and ultimately affected our readiness. There's also a culture of "don't tell me about reality - just get it done," including aircraft mx. This pressure comes from the top down. And as the article notes, the Marines are flying some old Hornets.
Quote from: trailrunner on April 10, 2018, 09:00:48 PM
There’s also a culture of “don’t tell me about reality - just get it done,” including aircraft mx. This pressure comes from the top down. And as the article notes, the Marines are flying some old Hornets.
So, you have the same executive management team that was running GE until the middle of last year.
Quote from: trailrunner on April 10, 2018, 09:00:48 PM
Sequestration and the constant cycle of CRs messed up our budgets and ultimately affected our readiness.
This is what has really hurt from everything I've been reading.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/04/11/the-militarys-stunning-fighter-pilot-shortage-one-in-four-billets-is-empty/