Air Force’s costliest accidents, maintainer injuries rose in 2023
By Courtney Mabeus-Brown
Apr 8, 05:30 AM
A crew chief conducts engine inspections on a C-17 Globemaster III at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Jan. 24, 2024. (Senior Airman Sergio Avalos/Air Force)
Two people died and 10 aircraft were destroyed in aviation-related mishaps in fiscal year 2023 as the Air Force’s most serious accidents hit a five-year high.
The latest milestone was driven by a jump in the deadliest and most expensive accidents, most of which occurred in flight. But an Air Force Times analysis of the service’s safety data found that even as the number of airborne mishaps has plateaued, a spike in maintenance-related incidents has cost the Air Force millions of dollars and — increasingly often — injured airmen on the job as well.
Deadly aircraft accidents declined in 2021, Air Force says
Sixty-three of the most severe kinds of aviation accidents, known as Class A and Class B mishaps, were reported last year, down from 71 in fiscal 2020.
By Rachel S. Cohen
As of April 1, the service had recorded 75 major non-combat mishaps in FY23, which ran from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023. That’s up from 67 in the year prior, and from 63 in FY19, according to the Air Force Safety Center.
Ground accidents comprised more than 28% of those mishaps in FY23 — up from 19% two years earlier.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2024/04/03/air-forces-costliest-accidents-maintainer-injuries-rose-in-2023/
