The Navy’s aviation community will undergo a “safety pause” Monday in the wake of multiple fatal flight mishaps in less than two weeks.
During the pause, units will review risk-management practices and train “on threat and error-management processes,” according to a Naval Air Forces statement.
“In order to maintain the readiness of our force, we must ensure the safety of our people remains one of our top priorities,” the command statement said.
Deployed units will conduct the pause at the earliest possible time.
The pause comes amid at least three Navy and Marine Corps aircraft crashes in the past 10 days, two of which were fatal.
Most recently, a Navy MH-60S Seahawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 3 crashed near El Centro, California, Thursday night, injuring one of four crew members who were conducting a routine training flight at the time.
On Wednesday, five Marines were killed when their MV-22B Osprey crashed in a remote training area near Glamis, California, roughly 115 miles east of San Diego.
The service has identified the Marines who died as Lance Cpl. Evan A. Strickland, Cpl. Nathan E. Carlson, Cpl. Seth D. Rasmuson, Capt. John J. Sax and Capt. Nicholas P. Losapio.
A few days before that loss, on June 3, a F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed during training in California, killing the pilot, Lt. Richard Bullock, of Strike Fighter Squadron 113.
All three incidents remain under investigation, and the service has not released details regarding what caused the mishaps.
On March 30, Lt. Hyrum Hanlon died and two other sailors were injured in the crash of E-2D Advanced Hawkeye off the coast of Virginia.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
