There’s a troubling report in the Air Force Times about the Pave Hawk HH-60, which are used for search and rescue missions. The Air Force says that only 57% of the fleet is available for missions at any give time of the year. The reason? They are 30-years-old and have been used twice as long as they were designed to. There are “major structural cracks that make it “unsafe to fly.” “The HH-60G Pave Hawk is a severely stressed aircraft thaqt is showing the impacts of its demanding mission,” says one Air Force spokesperson.
This past July, at the Air Force Sergeants Association annual gathering, one wife asked when her husband, who is a side gunner on an HH-60, would get a new aircraft so she and other spouses could “feel comfortable with birds” that are carrying their husbands. Not a good sign when military spouses are openly questioning the safety of our aircraft.
The problem is that while the whole fleet is slated for replacement, the “timeline is uncertain.” No good.
Read the full story here.