Gear Up, Mishaps Down: The Evolution of Naval Aviation Safety, 1950-2000

Less than five years after Naval Aviation led the forces that defeated ImperialJapan that very organization was in serious trouble. The force had beendrastically reduced and, despite the Korean War, growing sentiment supportedby no less than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs argued that the new Air Forcecould do anything Naval Aviation might be required to do. Meanwhile, the NavalAviation mishap rate soared. The very survival of Naval Aviation was at stake.It took fifty years to turn this around. Today, in spite of hot wars, cold wars,contingencies, and peacetime operations in support of friends and allies, theNavy and Marine Corps accident rate is at least as good as that of the AirForce, and it approaches that of commercial aviation. Gear Up, Mishaps Downexplains that this accomplishment was achieved through dedicated andprofessional leadership, a focus on lessons learned from mishaps andnear-mishaps, a willingness to learn from other enterprises, and by betterleadership, training, maintenance, supply and more.