Head of Marine Aviation: without more money we'll stop flying

The head of Marine Aviation has said that without a change to the budget increasing their funding, Marine pilots will stop flying by July or August. Lt. Gen Davis, the Deputy Commandant for Aviation said that they're currently flying more hours than they have funded. There's an 8% gap currently, and if another continuing resolution is passed, they'll remain short.

This will lead to the funding they do have going to front line units, and grounding rear area and training units. That will lead to things getting worse. Marine pilots haven't met their hours since 2012.

www.marinecorpstimes.com...

Marine pilots haven't met their hours since 2012.

That's insane.

I can tell you from experience that this isn't arbitrary. Flying crews' skills are perishable and regular training and flying builds both experience and comfort in flying.

In the army I was in the air quite often and under the most difficult conditions, flying at night, doing terrain level flight maneuvers and other dangerous tasks. I had amassed over 300 hours of flight time before deployment, without which I wouldn't have been prepared for the real craziness of flying in actual combat.

It's unconscionable that we would allow our military readiness to take such a precipitous dive. This kind of thing is killing people.

a reply to: Zaphod58 With drone technology being what it is and auto pilot ,one would think that needing flying time would be a thing of the past . just saying

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Even drone pilots need qualifying and training hours in order to remain current and SAFE while flying.

It's incredibly dismissive to assume that the existence of drones takes away from the safety requirements of pilots for both manned and unmanned systems.

a reply to: projectvxn

I was thinking that they have driver-less cars that can do the job and lets face it the shy is a big open space . With self driving cars you could literally put a blind person behind the wheel and go through a city .

a reply to: Zaphod58

I don't usually post on this because i'm not familiar with this topic, but i agree, this is nuts!

a reply to: Zaphod58

Bull #. The Marines are active aces.

a reply to: gription

a reply to: gription

Me and my dumd ass, trying to be nice. WTF?

a reply to: gription

The military crying for more money. Wow, when did that ever happen?

a reply to: starviego

This isn't just crying for more money. They lost 14 Marines along with 7 Hornets, 1 AV-8B, 1 MV-22, and 2 CH-53s last year alone. Of those, maybe two were caused by an aircraft fault, possibly only one. Missing flight hours is killing air crews and it's getting worse.

a reply to: gription

They're also suffering losses at triple or quadruple the level of all the other services combined.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I don't see that as a good comparison. Marines get into the dirt where others don't dare.
(I see that my metaphor can have several interpretations, so be it.)

a reply to: the2ofusr1
Flying builds confidence. If you are confident in both yourself, your team, and the airframe it will get you killed in combat.

wish I could say I am surprised... but this was always going to be the end result after sequestration, when targeted cuts were needed, they tried to use a sledgehammer to kill a fly and once again we have a spiraling case of unintended consequences.

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Couple replies to side comments...

It is not a big old sky its actually fairly crowded when you figure in the speeds they can be flying at.

Also flying is a dangerous job... telling a pilot to fly less is kind of like telling a doctor they dont need residency, before letting them cut on people.

a reply to: Irishhaf

The Air Force and Navy went through it. The Marines were able to push it off by delaying Depot work among other things. It finally caught up to them.

Wow, some of the ignorant comments here, made by people with no understanding of the danger and difficulty in military flying. People: Do some research before you fly off on the "crying" of the military for more money. Or that the sky is a big place. Geez.

The Marines have historically had the worst airframes, support and funding of any US flying forces, IMO. They, however, are very, very mission focused and will try many creative means to complete the mission, as ordered, with the limited funding they receive. I respect those aviators/crew so much for their dedication.

When I was flying, a F-14 Squadron commander wrote a HazRep based upon his lack of parts and ability to fly. He basically said that his aircrew were flying so little, that they were dangerous. If you shut down Marine Aviation for 2 months, people will die. It's just that simple. I'm guessing that they'll get some stop gap funding, but a thorough review of resources and operational budgets needs to happen.

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
a reply to: projectvxn

I was thinking that they have driver-less cars that can do the job and lets face it the shy is a big open space . With self driving cars you could literally put a blind person behind the wheel and go through a city .

Until those driverless cars crash ... which have already happened. there still has to be some kind of human input

a reply to: Nickn3

If you are confident in both yourself, your team, and the airframe it will get you killed in combat.

I think I know what you were trying to say :>) the edit button is your friend :>)