-Caveat Lector- Report Examines Air Force Crashes DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - The improper installation of aircraft parts caused 632 emergencies and accidents in the Air Force during a 25-year span, including 79 fatalities, a newspaper reported. The Dayton Daily News, in a six-part series that began Sunday, based its findings on an 18-month examination of records from 1972 and 1997, including a review of accident reports and computer records. Of the emergencies and accidents involving aircraft parts, 83 were major accidents that led to 79 deaths and permanent injuries to nearly 200 people. The Daily News also said maintenance-related incidents in the Air Force more than doubled between 1992 and 1997, while the number attributed to other causes dropped by half. In a single year, from 1996-97, maintenance-related incidents increased 58 percent. ``We're not as skilled as we want to be. There's no question,'' said Col. Jack Leonard, who oversees aircraft maintenance policy for the Air Force. Since 1994, the Air Force has lost 19 percent of its mechanics, including thousands of the most experienced workers, the newspaper said. At the same time, the number of mechanics still in training increased by 35 percent. With these changes came an increase in maintenance-related incidents, the Daily News said. Among the newspaper's finding: The engine in a F-16 fighter jet that crashed in Sumter, S.C., on Sept. 13, 1998, killing a man, had been used on two other F-16s. In both cases, the engine was removed from the planes after pilots reported smoke and fumes in their cockpits. After an AF-1F Cobra helicopter crashed in Hawaii on March 5, 1996, killing its two occupants, Army technicians recommended that engine warning lights on the helicopters be reactivated. The warning lights, which were disconnected after pilots complained of unnecessary emergency landings, have not been reconnected despite a second recommendation following the March 1, 1997, crash in Indiana that killed a national guardsman. Still, the military's top safety officials said their statistics during the past 30 years show a drastic drop in the rate of serious aviation accidents. Maj. Gen. Francis Gideon Jr., commander of the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., said serious aviation accidents have become so rare that they are ``almost statistically irrelevant.'' DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
