Posted on Jun 11, 2018
This week in Congress: Aviation accidents under scrutiny
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Thank you my friend MSgt Ken "Airsoldier" Collins-Hardy for making us aware that the U.S. House Armed Services Committee officials will hold a hearing this week to probe into the recent spike of military aviation accidents, a problem that defense officials have acknowledged but downplayed as “not a crisis.”
"WASHINGTON — House Armed Services Committee officials will hold a hearing this week to probe into the recent spike of military aviation accidents, a problem that defense officials have acknowledged but downplayed as “not a crisis.”
The Wednesday morning hearing will feature safety officials from each of the services and comes after a Military Times investigation earlier this year that found fatal military aviation accidents have reached a six-year high, in both the number of accidents and the number of personnel killed.
Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, has said that he believes budget cuts in recent years have played a major role in the readiness issue, but also pledged to delve further into the issue with a public hearing.
The move comes as the Senate conducts floor debate on the annual defense authorization bill. House lawmakers included a new review of the aviation problems in their draft of the legislation, and have promised more oversight on the issue in months to come."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SSG John Ross SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Gabriel F.
"WASHINGTON — House Armed Services Committee officials will hold a hearing this week to probe into the recent spike of military aviation accidents, a problem that defense officials have acknowledged but downplayed as “not a crisis.”
The Wednesday morning hearing will feature safety officials from each of the services and comes after a Military Times investigation earlier this year that found fatal military aviation accidents have reached a six-year high, in both the number of accidents and the number of personnel killed.
Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, has said that he believes budget cuts in recent years have played a major role in the readiness issue, but also pledged to delve further into the issue with a public hearing.
The move comes as the Senate conducts floor debate on the annual defense authorization bill. House lawmakers included a new review of the aviation problems in their draft of the legislation, and have promised more oversight on the issue in months to come."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SSG John Ross SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Gabriel F.
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Flight simulators, especially the lastet ones, are a fabulous way to train pilots in identifiable deficiencies found in the operational, maintenance, and safety reviews underway. At some point, however, crews HAVE to get the real-time "stick time" in what is an inherently hazardous occupation.
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CW5 John M.
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen - My introduction to link simulators was the "Blue Goose" instrument trainer at Ft Rucker, AL in '69. It saved a lot of flight time going out in the TH-13T instrument training helicopter.
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
I remember those! They've certainly come a long way from those days. We used to have B-52 simulators come in by train, they'd stay for a month or so then pack up and move to another base. My first experience as an assigned simulator instructor was with the FB-111. We used to have to use IBM punch cards if we wanted to make any changes to the programmed profiles. Guess that makes me old.
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CW5 John M.
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen - You and me both! After high school, I worked over the summer with USAF STRATCOM in Taipei as a GS-1 warehouse tub file clerk and computer punch card machine operator. Every card began with an identifier that I remember to this day: "AF1WRB3". I'll never forget the droning of the machine punching out code....
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Yes, that looks familiar. What I remember was when a profile didn't work right, going into the deck of cards trying to find the one(s) that were bad, then recutting and trying to run again, over and over!
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