US Congress might probe wave of military aviation mishaps
A senior lawmaker in the US House of Representatives has introduced legislation that calls for a congressional investigation into the latest wave of deadly aviation mishaps involving US military aircraft.
Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, presented the bill on Monday hoping to establish an independent commission on military aviation safety.
We need to "understand exactly what causes are contributing to military aviation accidents, how current rates compare to historic averages, and what steps we can take to improve military aviation safety," the lawmaker said.
The commission will review military incidents from fiscal year 2013 to 2018 and compare them to historic averages.
Smith has chosen 2013 because it was the first year that large congressional budget cuts, known as sequestration, were approved. The cuts have been partly blamed for the rise in aerial mishaps.
A review by the Military Times suggests that at least 133 American service members have been killed in various aircraft incidents between fiscal years of 2013 and 2017.
The sequestration put a lot of strain onto pilots who were being ordered on near non-stop deployments, such as to the Middle East, Europe and Eastern Asia.
The cutbacks also led to major cuts in pilots' flight-training hours while forcing the Pentagon to slash the numbers of its most experienced plane maintainers, the study found.
In fiscal year 2018, which started on October 1, American military aircraft have already been involved in 12 fatal accidents resulting in a six-year high record of 35 deaths of military pilots and crew.
The most recent incident took place on May 2, when a Hercules C-130 cargo plane belonging to the Puerto Rico Air National Guard went down in the southern state of Georgia, killing all nine people on board.
"It is essential for our aviators and their families - as well as for our military's ability to recruit, retain, and perform its mission - that Congress have an authoritative, objective, apolitical look at the causes of this problem so that we can figure out what is going wrong and what actions need to be taken," Smith said.
The Pentagon denied that it is facing a “crisis” and that the incidents are indicative of broader systemic failings.
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