Fewer planes are ready to fly: Air Force mission-capable rates decline amid pilot crisis

The F-22 saw an 11.17 percentage point reduction in mission-capable rates in 2017. It was one of several airframes that saw similar dips, contributing to an overall decline in mission-capable rates across the Air Force. (Tech Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth/Air Force)

 

The readiness of the Air Force’s aircraft fleet is continuing its slow, steady deterioration — and this could spell trouble for the service’s effort to hold on to its pilots and its ability to respond to contingencies around the world.

According to data provided by the Air Force, about 71.3 percent of the Air Force’s aircraft were flyable, or mission-capable, at any given time in fiscal 2017. That represents a drop from the 72.1 percent mission-capable rate in fiscal 2016, and a continuation of the decline in recent years.

Former Air Force pilots and leaders say that this continued trend is a gigantic red flag, and warn it could lead to serious problems down the road.

“It scares the heck out of me,” said retired Gen. Hawk Carlisle, former head of Air Combat Command. “It really does.”

Officials: Mysterious Jets Over Philly Were Actually Saudi Arabian Aircraft

Please see the video at the source.

 

(credit: Steve Lindsay)

 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — We’re learning more about the five planes flying in formation Monday night over the Philadelphia and South Jersey area.

A spokesperson for the FAA told KYW Newsradio on Monday that the group of jets flying in formation was a “military operation.”

Wall Street Banks Warn Downturn Is Coming

Societe Generale SA

 

• HSBC, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley say end of market boom is nigh
• Breakdown in trading patterns is signal to get out soon

HSBC Holdings Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley see mounting evidence that global markets are in the last stage of their rallies before a downturn in the business cycle.

Analysts at the Wall Street behemoths cite signals including the breakdown of long-standing relationships between stocks, bonds and commodities as well as investors ignoring valuation fundamentals and data. It all means stock and credit markets are at risk of a painful drop.

China’s J-20 can beat F-22, Global Times claims unconvincingly

Taking off from Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates in late September, American F-22s from the 27th Squadron of the First Fighter Wing dropped 1,000-pound satellite-guided weapons against ISIS positions near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates in northern Syria. This was considered the first combat mission conducted by the Raptors. Global Times noted however that the planes did not carry auxiliary fuel tanks and had to be refueled by a KC-10 tanker in midair.

American Federation of Communists

Communist pamphleteers are using the American Federation of Teachers annual convention as a recruiting ground, according to a new video.

Men with Mao Zedong-emblazoned messenger bags distributed fliers to union members as they entered the Los Angeles convention center, where thousands of teachers have gathered to discuss the state of the nation’s second largest teachers union.

Communist literature has appeared throughout the convention floor. Issues of the communist newspaper Red Flag have also been handed out to teachers as they gathered to reelect president Randi Weingarten, one of the most influential Democrats in the nation and a leader of the shadowy Democracy Alliance.