USAF cuts All Airshow support

[Ykato]

Air Force cuts aviation support at public events

3/1/2013 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- As the Air Force braces for potential sequester, leadership has cancelled all aviation support to public events for at least the remainder of the fiscal year and is standing down the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team to save flying hours to support readiness needs.

Effective today, active-duty, Reserve and Guard units will cease all aviation support to the public. This includes the cancellation of support to all air shows, tradeshows, flyovers (including funerals and military graduations), orientation flights, heritage flights, F-22 demonstration flights and open houses, unless the event includes only local static assets.

Additionally, the Air Force will cancel the Thunderbirds' entire 2013 season beginning April 1.

The Thunderbirds and Heritage Flight crews will complete their certification procedures for safely flying aerial demonstrations in case the budget allows resumption of scheduled events in 2013, but and the Air Force will cease participation in Heritage flights following certification.

The Air Force will reduce flying hours by as much as 18 percent -- approximately 203,000 hours -- and impacts will be felt across the service and directly affect operational and training missions.

"While we will protect flying operations in Afghanistan and other contingency areas, nuclear deterrence and initial flight training, roughly two-thirds of our active-duty combat Air Force units will curtail home station training," said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III.

Since all aerial support to public and military events is flown at no additional cost to the taxpayer using allotted training hours, the Air Force had no choice but to cancel support to these events.

"Engaging with the public is a core Air Force mission and communicating and connecting with the public is more important today than ever before. However, faced with deep budget cuts, we have no choice but to stop public aviation support," said Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick, the director of Air Force Public Affairs. "The Air Force will reevaluate the program at the end of the fiscal year and look for ways to curtail the program without having to cancel aviation support altogether."

The Air Force will continue to seek additional ways to remain engaged with the American public.

www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123338424

[mcmaster]

Yikes! "ëffective today" does that mean they will pull out of Avalon?

[Ykato]

4 Navy air wings grounded, 8 deployments canned

Four air wings are set to be grounded and eight ship deployments have been cancelled — including one already underway. The moves will help save the service $10 billion, the amount cut this year due to automatic spending cuts triggered by Congress.

The four air wings to be grounded are Carrier Air Wing 2, with the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group; Carrier Air Wing 9, with Stennis CSG; Carrier Air Wing 17, with Vinson CSG; and Carrier Air Wing 7, with Eisenhower CSG.

In addition, the two air wings dropping to a “tactical hard deck” are Carrier Air Wing 1, with the Theodore Roosevelt CSG; and Carrier Air Wing 11, with Nimitz CSG. Basic flight training for pilot and flight officer trainees will halt in March.

www.navytimes.com/news/2013/03/navy-sequester-4-air-wings-grounded-8-deployments-canned-030313/

[ngatimozart]

That's just the beginning from the looks of it. The Department of Defense budget was something like$ 640+ billion, IIRC, and the cuts are 10% so thats about $64 billion they got to lose this year. Might be some cheap kit going ;D

Actually Boeing might have some F18Es & Fs that might all of a sudden need new homes. ;D ;D All the civvies in the US Dept of Defence are going on indefinite unpaid leave as of 1st April. The notices were issued about two weeks ago.

[Deleted]

The airshow cuts make sense to me: if it's not essential duty then slim/get rid of it! And it seems Avalon was not affected...unless all the posts/podcasts about the crowds stopping and looking in awe were observing another kind of Raptor? ;-)

[beagle]

How many aircraft are at boneyards in the desert that arn't going to fly again.
Use the people that would be doing nothing and utiliside hem to strip all the parts off they want and sell the rest to scrap dealers for some cash.

I was watching something on you tube and they had a Dc9 at some airport in europe somewhere and they pulled saleable items from it then sold the basic airframe for 60 000 bucks.

I just saw they have quite a few S3 Vikings there. Zero timed rebuild and there's our new close in maritime patrol

[shorty]

Beagle, thats was MASDC does at Davis Montham!

[beagle]

I know, but it will take them years and years. Quite a lot have been sitting there for probably decades.
Just a thought to keep these boys and girls busy during their time off, as they won't have any holoday pay to go away on family trips.

[Dave Homewood]

It's the USA, they'll find another war to keep everyone busy soon.

[ngatimozart]

Don't know Dave. They won't have the money to fight it unless the Congress sorts its manure out. The congress critters egos aremore important than the state of the union.

[Chris F]

Well I guess I am lucky as I seen the Heritage Flight and Raptor at Fleetweek a few months ago...was fantastic....the thing that left us in pure state of speechlessness was at Area51.... a B-2 Stealth Bomber flew over head and it was damm low maybe 750ft...but what blew us away was it was "silent"....thats right no noise what so ever....then it just started circling in a tight circle round and round....was very odd!
We had seen one at Fleetweek and it was much higher and did make noise although very quiet for what it is...as for the Raptor...the things it can do would blow your mind...but noise....hell it would kill you just by the noise it makes!