U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, has asked subcommittee members to give him feedback on America’s growing rate of military aviation accidents in advance of a future hearing.
Rep. Turner and Subcommittee Ranking Member U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) are increasingly concerned about the nation’s growing number of recent military aviation mishaps, according to a May 2 statement from Congressman Turner’s office. The Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee already has held several hearings during this Congress requesting that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) move quickly to rectify the problems, his staff said.
In an April 27 letter to colleagues serving on the subcommittee, Reps. Turner and Tsongas wrote that “further subcommittee action is required to ensure we maintain appropriate oversight of the military’s response to these often-tragic events.”
Over the last five years, at least 133 United States troops have been killed in aviation mishaps, according to the Military Times, which conducted a six-month investigation that found “accidents involving all of the military’s manned fighter, bomber, helicopter and cargo warplanes rose nearly 40 percent from fiscal years 2013 to 2017.”
“It’s doubled for some aircraft, like the Navy and Marine Corps’ F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets,” according to the April 8 Military Times article, in which the newspaper reported that such accidents included the deaths of 16 pilots and crew members who were killed in six separate aviation crashes during a three-week span in March.
More recently, nine members of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard were killed on May 2 when the C-130 cargo plane carrying them crashed near Hilton Head Airport in Savannah, Georgia. Officials reported this week that the aging plane – an older, modified version of the C-130 Hercules – reportedly had been in operation for more than 60 years and was on its final flight before being retired when it crashed.
“We’re not certain that the service branches are adequately identifying the source and cause fast enough for us to be able to remedy them, putting more people at risk,” Congressman Turner said in a May 1 Dayton Daily News article.
“The service branches have been too slow to respond. These are alarming trends. It’s making an unsafe environment for pilots,” Turner added during the interview. “When we have a hearing or travel to military bases and talk to pilots, we become more and more concerned that the service branches don’t have an answer.”
Rep. Tsongas said in the joint May 2 statement issued with Rep. Turner that the spike in military aviation casualties “warrants a renewed look at how the military services identify and report on the cause of serious accidents.”
The frequency of these events must be reduced to an acceptable and manageable level, Tsongas said, adding that lawmakers “owe it to our pilots to make sure the aircraft they use to serve and protect our nation are flying safe.”
In light of the rising death toll, “we judge that our oversight responsibilities must now address [DOD’s] investigative procedures and processes,” as well, wrote Reps. Turner and Tsongas in their letter to subcommittee members.
The subcommittee leaders wrote that they’re interested in hearing what their colleagues’ concerns are about this situation and have requested their feedback “in advance of a future subcommittee hearing/briefing,” which to date hasn’t yet been scheduled.