{"id":17903,"date":"2018-10-05T20:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T20:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/05\/a-year-after-navy-usmc-aviation-crisis-has-safety-improved\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:35:28","slug":"a-year-after-navy-usmc-aviation-crisis-has-safety-improved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/10\/05\/a-year-after-navy-usmc-aviation-crisis-has-safety-improved\/","title":{"rendered":"Has safety improved a year after Navy and Marine aviation crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aviation woes continue to dog the Navy and Marines but ongoing reforms will make a difference, the top flight officers for both services predicted Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, Navy and Marine squadrons reeled from a rising number<\/a> of aviation-related mishaps. The Navy\u2019s mishap rate had jumped 82 percent<\/a> over the last five years, and the Marines’ had leaped 80 percent<\/a>, largely driven by incidents involving Hornet and Super Hornet fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those aircraft suffered from a defense spending crunch, a lack of spare parts, too few planes available to fly and a dip in the number of experienced pilots and maintainers on duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although new numbers haven\u2019t been released to the public, Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder<\/a> \u2014 the Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation \u2014 said his Marines halved their mishap count from the previous fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice Adm. DeWolfe \u201cBullet\u201d Miller III, <\/a>the commander of Naval Air Forces, said his sailors didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The hole\u2019s a little deeper than we thought,\u201d Miller told the audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “We didn\u2019t get here overnight and we\u2019re not going to get out of it overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t