Army helicopter pilots are flying considerably lower than they have been a decade in the past, in keeping with information reviewed by Navy.com, because the service grapples with a string of latest lethal incidents.
Since 2012, flight hours throughout the Army’s high three helicopter platforms have dipped dramatically. Flight time with the Apache has dropped about 50%; Chinook pilots have 36% much less time within the air; and the Black Hawk, the service’s premier workhorse, is flying 25% much less.
A lot of that dip in flight time is attributable to the International Conflict on Terror winding down, with fight operations slowing down and a commensurate dip in coaching time. The Army didn’t present an aviation knowledgeable or senior chief in that area for an on-the-record interview for this story.
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However that decline has coincided with a surge in latest lethal helicopter accidents.
Final month, Gen. James McConville, the Army’s high officer, ordered a security stand-down following back-to-back high-profile helicopter crashes: one involving two Black Hawks that killed 9 one hundred and first Airborne Division troops and one other in Alaska through which two troopers have been killed and a 3rd injured when two AH-64 Apaches collided. Aviation items have been tasked with reviewing upkeep of their crafts and going over security procedures.
The crash in March involving the one hundred and first Airborne was one of many deadliest non-combat incidents within the Army’s historical past and, whereas it is unclear what brought on it, it’s one in every of many deadly helicopter crashes exterior of a conflict zone previously decade resulting in new scrutiny on whether or not the service’s helicopters are protected and its pilot coaching sufficient.
“If we’ve got identified points with sure helicopters, we have to know so we will useful resource your Division in a way that protects the lives of our courageous men and women in uniform,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month. The letter requested additional data on latest points with helicopters, together with complete figures for incidents and whether or not there have been any widespread themes to the causes.
Army officers have mentioned that they do not see a connection between flight hours and accidents.
“The general discount in rotary-wing flying hours executed over the previous decade is instantly attributable to the drawdown in abroad contingency operations executed in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout that interval,” Jason Waggoner, a service spokesperson, mentioned in an announcement to Navy.com. “The Army has not recognized any correlation between flight hours and accidents. The Army’s manned aviation accident price steadily declined over the previous decade as flight hours executed additionally declined.”
The Army Nationwide Guard additionally has had numerous incidents over the previous decade, with 45 severe crashes killing 28 Guardsmen, in keeping with an April report from the Authorities Accountability Workplace. Along with missions abroad in Europe, Africa and the Center East, the Guard additionally closely makes use of helicopters on home missions in catastrophe aid and search and rescue, which governors have more and more relied on.
Amongst different incidents, two Tennessee Nationwide Guard troopers died in a Black Hawk crash in February; a 2021 Black Hawk crash killed three New York Guardsmen; and a 2015 Black Hawk crash killed 4 Lousiana Guard troopers and 7 Marines.
The report discovered vital points within the Nationwide Guard, notably an absence of flight hours amongst its pilots, who want a minimal of 6.77 hours a month, with 9 hours being thought of optimum. Between 2017 and 2019, the majority of Guard pilots flew round 5 hours monthly.
The service remains to be compiling findings for its aviation stand-down, which ended Might 5 for active-duty items and remains to be in impact for the Nationwide Guard till the tip of the month. The stand-down grounded plane till the items accomplished upkeep and security critiques.
— Steve Beynon may be reached at Steve.Beynon@navy.com. Observe him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.
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