The US Air Force recently announced that a one-day safety review is going to take place in order to review aircrafts. The purpose of the investigation is to take a closer look at safety and wing maintenance. Scott Beale aviation expert shared his thoughts about the decision that came after the increase noticed in deadly aircraft crashes in the past few months.
During the official announcement, there were different incidents that were highlighted. Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force Chief of Staff, mentioned that the safety review will allow commanders to discuss and assess operations safety following the recent fatalities and mishaps noticed in aviation. This includes the WC-130 Hercules aircraft crash as the main known incident.
Scott Beale declares that this type of assessment needs to be done from time to time in order to allow commanders to have a professional analysis done on the condition of the US air force fleet. He goes on to say that various aviation statistics were most likely taken into account and since the review happens, there is a big possibility there are many other problems that were discovered, problems that were not discussed with the public.
The review is going to have wing commanders lead forums in order to gather feedback coming from airmen. The goal is to identify various issues that could cause future mishaps for both the unmanned and manned aircrafts. At the same time, the units in the Reserve and Air National Guard will need to finish their review until the day of June 25.
Scott Beale praises the decision because of the fact every single small problem can lead to losses. Weapon systems might not work, may malfunction and the aircraft can go down. Identifying gaps that may exist in the US Air Force can only be a good thing.
Beale went on to say that we should not expect immediate results following the review. Having all aviation forces on the ground for one day in order to hold forums and see what is happening by talking to army men is just the start. However, he does highlight the fact that this offers the possibility to identify various issues that are not widely known. These can then be elevated towards major command for following investigations.
If the review finds something substantial, the next step is not solving that problem, Scott Beale aviation expert mentions. The next step would be to investigate further and then take the best possible decisions. This means that actually solving problems can last a lot longer than anticipated, especially if serious procedure flaws are identified.
Not just the US forces in the country will conduct reviews. The units that are currently involved in the Middle East combat operations will also perform reviews. However, they are not going to have to stop flying for the day.
Scott Beale concluded his analysis by saying that statistics show that the class A aviation accidents (accidents that result in the death of at least one person) are now down when compared with the past decade. However, this does not mean this cannot change since the number of incidents reported is constantly growing.
