Kalistani Major History

[Doc]

Kalistani Air Force Fails Inspector General's Evaluation
Tragic crash last month which killed 4 points to deeper problems in the Air Force
Gendaris, Duchy of Odufaray
April 2, 5515


F/A-10 crashes into hangar killing both crew members and two enlisted on Odufaray NAS

A routine landing turned deadly late last month as an F/A-10, which was returning from a routine patrol over the eastern coast of Kalistan crashed while landing. The plane was landing at a strange angle, and as it touched down, the wheels caught on a runway fixture causing the plane to lose control while taxiing, and spinning it out into a nearby hangar. In the resulting crash, both crew members were killed, along with two members of the ground crew, who attempted to escape the out of control plane.

"This was a tragic accident," said General of the Airforce Major General Brent Sanderson. "It was also totally avoidable. Kalistan's Air Force is woefully undertrained, and Kalistan can make all the deals with foreign states that it likes, but without increased training, and a culture which emphasizes professionalism and safety for our pilots, we are going to see more such exercises and more of this kind of death." The March crash was the most serious in a string of smaller scale incidents that were all chalked up to pilot inexperience and lack of competency.

Following the fatal crash, Her Imperial Majesty's Defense Minister ordered the Military's Inspector General to conduct a month long evaluation of the Air Force's Readiness. The results of the evaluation, reported today shows that Kalistan's Air Force has gone "Unsatisfactory" in nearly all metrics not dealing with aircraft maintenance. "The single positive note from the IG's Evaluation is that Kalistani Enlisted men and women maintain these aircraft and munitions in top order." said General Sanderson. "In all areas pertaining to training and military competence, our Air Force is in a dismal state."

The General noted the sales of advanced multirole fighter craft from Kazulia, and an additional lot expected to be secured from Kundrati. "Modern Fighter craft do not handle like our current stock. We will require not only extensive flight and combat training on those aircraft before our Air Force can be expected to preform well, but it goes much deeper than this."

The General also announced that Her Imperial Majesty, working through Defense Minister Guillermo Davis, has ordered that all Air Force Officers and Naval Air Officers be personally evaluated for fitness. "Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress was understandably disappointed in the results of the IG's evaluation," said General Sanderson. "The next month will be brutal for the Officer corps of the Air Force and the Navy. The Air Force Command is expecting that more than 70% of our officers will be cashiered. We expect to begin needing to commission Warrant Officers, and opening enrollment at Flight School for senior NCOs between the ranks of E-5 and E-7 who wish to accept commission. And then we will have to begin a heavy recruitment campaign. But the IG's report said that the rot comes from the top: that scruity extends to me personally, and I accept the criticism as valid. There is too much that he need to do that we have not done, and the only way to get out of our bad habits and build a new culture, with a new set of officers, from the ground up if we have to."

Some of the black marks on the Air Force include: Regularly flying below min safe elevations, increasing the likelihood of collision with civilian infrastructure, near complete lack of skill in refueling operations, significantly lower target acquisition and neutralization in training environments, broken flight simulators, too little flight training with an instructor before sending pilots out by themselves, in some cases failing physical infrastructure at air bases and naval air stations, lack of standardized air traffic control, lack of standardized take off and landing checklists, lack of adequate flight gear for pilots, lack of correct storage procedures, lack of adherence to or logging of required flight paths, regular exhausting of fuel supplies requiring landing of military aircraft at civilian airports, general lack of professionalism, uniform military appearance, barracks cleanliness and order and discipline in formation, and etc. The list of individual violations of Air Force SOP is more than 125 pages long. "The failures of the Air Force, even in instances where Airmen and women knew they were being evaluated are stunning," said General Sanderson. "And of course, the responsibility for these failures goes all the way up the chain of command."

General Sanderson concluded the press conference stating that he has offered his resignation to Her Imperial Majesty's Defense Minister, who has refused to accept it for the time being. "Minister Davis informed me that the responsibility is mine also to begin to work on reconstruction of the Air Force. I shall therefore stay with the Air Force through December of this year and then will accept early retirement at my current rank, rather than finishing my 30 years with the Air Force." General Sanderson's replacement, Brigadier General Martin Sorin has already been announced, and Sorin has already begun working as Head of Transition under Sanderson's command. "We will have continuity in the chain of command," said Sanderson. "I am optimistic for the restructuring of our service." Similar Inspections have been ordered for the Regular Army and Navy during the remainder of this year, though it is expected that both those services will fare significantly better than the Air Force.