Mission Capable: How More Ready Jets Is Helping the Navy Create Deadlier Pilots
By: Megan Eckstein
April 23, 2020 4:15 PM • Updated: April 23, 2020 6:19 PM
This post is the second in a two-part series on the naval aviation community’s effort to build better readiness and how that is changing the future of naval aviation.
“It was, quite frankly, a little scary.â€
In 2015, Rear Adm. Rich Brophy was a captain who had just taken command of Carrier Air Wing 9 and was trying to usher the unit through pre-deployment training, while sitting at the bottom of a bathtub in naval aviation readiness.
So few aircraft were mission capable across the whole Navy that pilots in the maintenance phase of the deployment cycle – back from a previous deployment, not yet preparing for the next deployment –only flew about 11 hours a month, the tactical hard deck or minimum time in the cockpit to keep their qualifications.
https://news.usni.org/2020/04/23/mission-capable-how-more-ready-jets-is-helping-the-navy-create-deadlier-pilots
