Marine Corps Orders 24-Hour Groundings of Aircraft

The United States Marine Corps has ordered an operational “reset” of all their air traffic over a 24-hour period in the wake of several crashes that killed Marines, including the most recent near Australia. The groundings will take place in stages and will not affect ongoing or underway military operations, according to the Pentagon.

From the Marines:

PENTAGON —
General Robert B. Neller, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, directed U.S. Marine Corps aviation units to conduct an operational reset for a 24 hour-period where no flight operations will take place but no operational commitments will be impacted.

This operational reset will occur within the next two weeks and will be taken at the discretion of commanders, based on their unit’s operational commitments, to focus on the fundamentals of safe flight operations, standardization, and combat readiness. The intent is for flying squadrons to review selected incidents which occurred enterprise-wide and study historical examples of completed investigations in order to bring awareness and best practices to the fleet.

Pauses in operations are not uncommon and are viewed as a responsible step to refresh and review best practices and procedures so our units remain capable, safe, and ready.

They are not citing any aircraft defects or widespread malfunctions, but instead are using the suspension of air traffic, as stated above, to review procedures and safety precautions.

It’s a good idea in light of the loss of life. We only hope this helps to save our Marines from future tragedy, and to improve military readiness overall.


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