Grounded bombers and another fighter crash on Sunday night: When will the Defense Department...

These cycles have happened largely based on OPTEMPO - training and funding issues during my time in aviation safety. Certainly, all incidents are noteworthy, and are to be investigated, corrected, and incorporated into this latest "reality" of operations. Adverse findings can lead to mass groundings or safety "stand downs as part of the cost of doing business. No one (especially the families) wants to see people hurt or killed, or millions of dollars "down the drain".

We have had many aircraft groundings and safety stand-downs over the years. In the Army, I've observed accident rates range from 10 - 14% in the 1970's down to below 1% in the late 80s/90s. In Vietnam, accidents which resulted from combat were not figured into the accident rate data. In fact, many accidents were incorrectly classified as combat related in order to avoid resulting investigations and accident rate statistics.

I haven't seen anything on the current accident rate at this point. The "solution" to what is happening at the moment is NOT to just put the aircraft away in storage or cease all operations... But we must be continually investigating, evaluating, and correcting deficiencies while persuing rigorus "prevention practices and policies". There are inherent hazards present in aviation even when you are doing everything right.

Not sure how there can be a 'systemic' issue when the accidents are across the board and encompass all of the flying services and a variety of aircraft types. The crash of a C-130 in Georgia and an F-15 in Okinawa most likely not related. It is clear that there are issues. Calling them systemic is a reach.

Sounds like there are some serious issues going on that need to be addressed.