Air National Guard safety officials recently visited the American Airlines flight training center in Fort Worth, Texas, and other civil aviation and government oversight facilities across the country to see how they could better incorporate commercial air safety practices into Air Guard operations, according to a release. “It’s no secret that many ANG pilots also fly for commercial airlines,” said Col. Ed Vaughan, ANG safety director. “What is not so well known is how valuable that civilian-military connection is to enhancing Air Force flight safety and spurring innovation,” he said. Among the stops, Vaughan and Dan Polanosky, ANG safety associate director, also visited the National Transportation Safety Board training academy in Ashburn, Va., states the Jan. 15 release. The Air Guard has adopted three commercial flight safety initiatives; one of them is the Aviation Safety Action Program, which encourages voluntary reporting of safety issues by pilots and airline employees as a means of preventing accidents.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.