Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma is inspecting its entire fleet of T-6 Texan II training aircraft for damage after a severe thunderstorm swept through on July 21, delaying undergraduate pilot training by a minimum of two weeks.
It’s the newest hiccup in pilot training because the service pushes to graduate nearly 1,500 recent aviators this fiscal yr, hoping to chip away at a perennial pilot shortage.
The thunderstorm battered the T-6s with winds over 70 mph, blowing off their protective covers and prompting concerns about debris within the engines and other structural problems, the Air Force said.
No less than 12 T-6s require intensive repairs before they’ll return to flight, base spokesperson Terri Schaefer said. Local leaders have opted to envision your entire fleet of 99 Texan IIs for structural and mechanical damage as a security precaution.
The 71st Flying Training Wing resumed flight operations on Sunday, two days after the storm, while Air Force mechanics and contractors proceed inspecting aircraft. Schaefer said Vance expects to return to normal operations by Aug. 4.
T-6s were the one airframe affected at Vance, which also flies the T-1 Jayhawk and T-38 Talon trainers. It’s too early to inform how much it might cost to repair them.
It’s unclear what longer-term ripple effects the storm can have on the pilot training process, which requires classes of scholars to maneuver on to their next aircraft before recent airmen are allowed to start out. Greater than 260 undergraduate students are currently assigned to Vance, Schaefer said.
The T-6 is the primary military aircraft a brand new student touches as a part of the undergraduate pilot training curriculum. Earning pilot’s wings within the T-6 takes about seven months, at which point a trainee is chosen to proceed on the fighter-bomber track or the mobility track.
Slowing or pausing T-6 flights could cause repercussions farther down that line.
“The pilot training pipeline has been impacted by this storm, and officials are discussing the best way to make up for the time lost to satisfy production numbers,” Vance spokesperson Tech. Sgt. James Bolinger said.
This isn’t the primary time Mother Nature has intervened in pilot training.
In February 2016, a hailstorm tore through Laughlin AFB, Texas, pelting the training base with chunks of ice that caused enough damage to ground 80% of its aircraft. In October 2018, Hurricane Michael devastated Tyndall AFB, Florida, the Air Force’s sole training site for the F-22 Raptor fighter fleet. And several other training installations were amongst those hit by Winter Storm Uri and other squalls in early 2021.
The Air Force can be working through delays elsewhere within the training pipeline. Earlier this yr, the service projected a slowdown in T-38 engine repairs would hinder aircraft availability until a minimum of September, amongst other issues related to staffing and the inventory’s age.
Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), the Washington Post, and others.