Military Aviation Mishaps: DOD Needs to Improve Its Approach for Collecting and Analyzing Data to Manage Risks

Abstract

In September 2017 we notified you that, in response to a provision in House Report 115-200, accompanying a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, we would be reviewing military training for rotary-wing aviation.1 As part of this review, we are evaluating the relationship between training completed on rotary-wing aircraft and the number of aviation mishaps that have occurred.2 During our review of aviation safety and the risk mitigation roles and responsibilities of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the military services, we became aware of Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to reorganize certain policy and oversight functions related to aviation mishaps. In addition, it is our understanding that Congress passed legislation that would establish an independent national commission to, among other things, study the causes contributing to military aviation mishaps and make recommendations on modifications to policies related to aviation safety. Given DODs current efforts to address aviation mishap-related policies and oversight issues, we are providing this report to you to share some of the issues we identified in the course of our ongoing review. This report includes observations on the extent to which DOD has a comprehensive approach for the collection, reporting, and analysis of mishap data to inform aviation risk-management decisions. Meanwhile, we are continuing our review of military aining for rotary-wing aviation and will include information related to rotary-wing aviation mishaps, along with any additional findings, in the final report we expect to issue in early 2019.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 15, 2018
Accession Number
AD1157517

Entities

People

  • Alexandra Gonzalez
  • Cary Russell
  • Danny Lee
  • Kevin Copping
  • Matt Ullengren
  • Ron L. Lake
  • Russell Bryan
  • Tyann Lee

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Accountability
  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Aviation Safety
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electronic Mail
  • Governments
  • Instructions
  • Law
  • Military Aviation
  • National Governments
  • Risk
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Training

Readers

  • Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Military Engineering.