Now There’s a Flight Screening Award: We were a bit premature with our earlier report that Air Education and Training Command had awarded its initial flight-screening contract to Doss Aviation of Colorado Springs, Colo. First, the award had to clear environmental hurdles. That is done, says AETC. Doss gets to keep the 10-year $178 million contract and, for that, will evaluate Air Force candidates for pilot or combat systems officer (read our 2005 article on the new CSO here) training. Operations at the Doss primary facility in Pueblo, Colo., should begin in October.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
