Aircraft maintainers have teamed with operators at Moody AFB, Ga., to conduct what they are calling an “abort court” to determine whether declaration of an aircraft abort was “justifiable or preventable,” says Lt. Col. William Taylor, commander of Moody’s 71st Rescue Squadron. The new monthly look at cancelled sorties provides a forum for operators and maintainers to “talk in detail” and offers another analytical tool to help improve aircraft reliability, explains Lt. Col. Donald Russell, 723rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander. Capt. Emma Bolin, HH-60G maintenance officer for the 723rd, told journalist TSgt. Parker Gyokeres that the abort court already found that January aborts had one common problem—related to aircraft stabilators—that were “preventable if we performed a simple check before each flight.”
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
