Originally Posted by
havoc
"...My resignation letter when I quit working at Rucker (Novosel) in 2019 stated how the Army will see a rise in incidents and accidents when that current Lakota program generation makes PIC (I said 3-6 years from then).
The program doesn't teach competency, everyone gets an A, and over-reliance on automated systems. It was HOW things were being taught; not WHAT was being taught. All fixable issues with a simple POI changes.
When that generation of students also reaches the 1000hr mark the accident rates will be worse than prior 1000hr mark students because this generation is even more complacent and over-reliant on systems to fly the machine.
The Aviate, Navigate, Communicate skills aren't being focused on enough. More effort spent on understanding upper modes and the G430 than head outside the cockpit, power management, and stick/rudder skills.
Rucker buddies have confirmed they've taken one step forward in some aspects of fixing the program there but 2 steps back in others. Really sad as we trained highly competent guys there for years then it was an obvious drop when they re-wrote the program when they got the Lakota.
There was quite a groundswell of opinion with the IP's that I knew at Rucker with the introduction of the Lakota program that echoed that sentiment. It was a topic of a number of discussions, wasn't convinced one way or the other, but there was some heat in the opinions. The accident rate as yet doesn't seem to have really increased, but the conditions of concern have not yet eventuated. Change is challenging at the best of times.
The Lakota is a nice chopper, it is heavy on systems automation but it reflects the operational equipment that the guys n girls are going to go work on. Helicopters of any level of complexity will always have bits of the envelope where the skill of the driver will be a major factor.
Midair accidents happen, they did in the past, they do now, and they will in the future. Tactical ops in any type of formation has an elevated risk, and most of the time the crews cope well. Losses are regrettable, but they are not going away anytime soon where there is a need for more than one machine in the same airspace at one time. The Blackhawk and the Apache MAC's do not seem to be out of the statistical rate of events, but I haven't reviewed those for a few years. These accidents are high profile, but I doubt that they are statistically significant to indicating a trend. A safety stand down is a valid command response to concerns, whether the stats underpin a real or a perceived problem.
I've spent that last month surrounded by MV-22's and various other types, and as a casual interested observer, the crews are doing a pretty professional job IMHO. We should appreciate what they do as much as be critical of the mishap causes, that would seem to be balanced.