Marine Pilots Ordered to Stop Flying, Take Refresher Course

Because a recent string of military aircraft accidents can be largely blamed on human error, the commandant of the Marine Corps Tuesday ordered all Marine pilots to leave their cockpits for a two-day safety refresher course over the next two weeks.

Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr. said that in the seven recent accidents, which claimed the lives of 45 Marines, “air crew error predominates and most likely will be a primary cause in all these mishaps.”

Aircraft and crews based at Tustin and El Toro Marine Corps air stations in Orange County have been involved in three of the fatal helicopter accidents, accounting for 25 of the fatalities. One of the accidents involved a Marine Corps reserve unit based at El Toro, and the other two in South Korea involved personnel and an aircraft from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at El Toro and Tustin.

“It is time to pause, catch our breath, and come to grips with the devastating trend established this year,” Gray said in a Teletype message to Marine bases worldwide. “To that end, within the next two weeks, all aviation units will conduct a two-day safety stand-down.

“Our machines are not letting us down; we are letting ourselves down,” Gray said.

Maj. Gen. Donald E.P. Miller, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at El Toro, said he has instructed his group and squadron commanders to complete the refresher course by June 17.

“I would like to shut them all down at once for the two days of instruction, but that is impossible,” Miller said, adding that he has some aircraft in the middle of missions. “I think it is a hell of a good idea. I think we have to stop once in a while and say are we doing this right.”

Gray’s order affects 1,200 Marine Corps fighters, observation planes and helicopters in 87 aviation squadrons worldwide.

“His concern is the number of deaths so far this year,” said Lt. Col. Fred Peck in Washington. Peck said Gray’s action ordering all Marine Corps aviators to the classroom was “unprecedented.”

“It has been done squadron-wide or even wing-wide, but, the best I can determine, never before Marine Corps-wide,” he said.

The order came less than six months after Marine Corps aviators completed the safest flying year ever.