THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170402
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
A $2 billion program to refurbish the Marine Corps' trouble-plagued fleet of AV-8B Harrier jump jets should cut the plane's accident rate in half, a top general told congressmen Tuesday. But because of budget constraints it has had to be stretched out over several years.
Republican lawmakers promptly accused the Clinton administration of putting pilots at risk and suggested they will try to accelerate and expand the program.
``I think it's an outrage that we're not making these improvements,'' said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of a House subcommittee that oversees weapons procurement programs.
The Marines have lost four Harriers this year. The plane, which can take off and land vertically, has the worst safety record among U.S. tactical jets.
Lt. Gen. Harold Blot, deputy chief of staff for Marine aviation, told Hunter's subcommittee that other programs have kept the Corps from seeking funds to speed up the Harrier work.
Blot also defended the plane, saying its accident rate is much improved from a predecessor model, the AV-8A. ``We wouldn't fly an airplane we feel is putting aviators at risk,'' he added.
Navy officials, meanwhile, said they're getting the money they need and moving as fast as possible on safety improvements to another troubled fighter, the F-14 Tomcat. They briefed the subcommittee on several recent Tomcat crashes, including a Jan. 29 mishap in Nashville that killed two airmen and three civilians.
That crash resulted from pilot error, the Navy said in a report released Friday.
The service believes pilot error also was the cause of a Feb. 22 crash in the Persian Gulf in which both the pilot and his radar intercept officer safely ejected. But it has tentatively attributed the Feb. 18 crash of a Tomcat in the Pacific to a catastrophic failure of the afterburner in one engine; both members of that plane's crew perished.
All three of the recent crashes involved F-14s based on the west coast. The Navy is in the process of transferring those squadrons to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, which will become the home of all U.S.-based Tomcats.
In questioning led by two former military aviators, Reps. Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham, R-Calif., and Pete Peterson, D-Fla., the subcommittee explored a variety of possible equipment improvements to the F-14, including equipping the jets with flight data and cockpit voice recorders similar to those used on commercial jets.
The Navy has opted not to install the devices however, in part because it is in the process of phasing out the F-14 and in part because space for the ``black boxes'' on the jet is very limited.
But the Navy is making other improvements to the Tomcats, including a $70 million program to equip them with a digital flight control system that will limit pilots' ability to initiate maneuvers which have been shown to put the plane out of control.
The Pentagon is seeking about $305 million for the Harrier upgrades in its 1997 budget, being considered on Capitol Hill. That's enough to cover work on 10 of the 72 planes slated for the program.
Blot said the Marines presently intend to limit the upgrade program to 72 Harriers, leaving 24 unimproved. But Hunter suggested that the subcommittee may provide money not only to speed up work on planes targeted for the program but to add to the total to be refurbished.
KEYWORDS: U.S. MARINE CORPS by CNB