{"id":12931,"date":"2021-03-11T14:48:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T14:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/03\/11\/flight-hours-plunged-during-covid-but-aircraft-mishap-rates-ticked-up\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:17:25","slug":"flight-hours-plunged-during-covid-but-aircraft-mishap-rates-ticked-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/03\/11\/flight-hours-plunged-during-covid-but-aircraft-mishap-rates-ticked-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight hours plunged during COVID, but aircraft mishap rates ticked up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force saw the fewest of the three most serious classes of mishaps<\/a> involving manned aircraft in at least a decade in fiscal 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that silver lining comes with a big asterisk: The number of hours airmen flew in manned aircraft in 2020 also plunged to its lowest level since at least fiscal 2011, to 1.33 million hours. That\u2019s lower than the 1.49 million hours flown in fiscal 2019, and about one-third less than the 1.97 million hours airmen flew in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline in flight hours \u2014 at least partially caused by the coronavirus pandemic that began unfolding halfway through the fiscal year \u2014 meant that the per-flight hour mishap rate<\/a> actually ticked up slightly last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests that several years into the Air Force\u2019s effort to stem aviation mishaps<\/a>, the service is still not yet showing progress \u2014 and has a long way to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress and the military renewed focus on safety issues after a 2018 investigation by Military Times found aviation-related accidents and deaths across the entire military rose in the years after sequestration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That year was also the Air Force\u2019s most devastating and deadliest in years, with 19 airmen lost in aviation-related deaths. The crashes of an HH-60 Pave Hawk in Iraq, which killed seven airmen, and a WC-130 in Georgia that killed nine members of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard were primarily responsible for that unusually high death toll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safety stand downs<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein ordered an operational safety review in May 2018, including one-day stand downs for all flying and maintenance wings. The review found several factors \u2014 including a high operations tempo, lack of available aircraft, inexperienced maintainers, and a \u201cget it done\u201d culture pushing airmen to make sure the mission gets accomplished no matter what \u2014 could be potential risks to aviation safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AIR MISHAP TOTALS 2020<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force recorded 611 Class A, Class B and Class C mishaps in 2020, according to statistics released by the Air Force Safety Center at Air Force Times\u2019 request. In terms of raw numbers, that represented the fewest since at least fiscal 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline was primarily due to a plunge in the number of Class C mishaps, which dropped from 610 in fiscal 2019 to 549 last year. That continues a steady decline since fiscal 2017, when Class C mishaps hit their peak at 701. Class C mishaps are accidents that cost at least $60,000 but no more than $600,000, or lead to injuries serious enough to result in lost work days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Class A and Class B mishaps were also relatively lower than in most recent years, at 23 and 39, respectively. However, those were slight upticks from 2019, when the Air Force recorded 20 Class A mishaps and 34 Class B mishaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Class A mishaps involve mishaps that cause damage totaling at least $2.5 million, the destruction of an aircraft, or the death or permanent total disability of someone involved. Class B mishaps cause between $600,000 and $2.5 million in damage, the permanent partial disability of someone, or the inpatient hospitalization of three or more personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon in 2020 increased the dollar amount for the different mishap categories, which also may account for some of the statistical shifts. In 2019, Class Cs cost between $50,000 and $500,000, Class Bs cost between $500,000 and $2 million, and Class As cost $2 million or more. The Pentagon said in 2019 that it was considering such a shift to take into account the extra expense of the advanced stealth coating and sensors on newer aircraft such as the F-35. That meant even small incidents, such as towing accidents, were sometimes costly enough to be deemed Class A mishaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\t