THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240728
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED OFFLEY, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Three Navy carrier air wings and a half-dozen P-3C patrol squadrons have been fully or partially grounded because the Navy does not have enough money to pay for training flights and foreign operations at the same time, officials say.
Navy officials say the grounding is unprecedented. Even in the cash-strapped era of the 1970s, the service was able to maintain flight operations.
But faced with unexpected requirements to send additional warships to Korea and Haiti this summer, the Navy has squeezed hard to come up with the operating funds to pay the bill, officials say.
The groundings are effective until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
Normally, a squadron comming off a six-month deployment goes on inactive status for 30 days, then begins training flights to reacquaint crewmen with basic flying skills. The pace steadily increases over the 12-to-15-month period before deployment as aircrews practice low-level flying, night operations and simulated carrier landings.
But money has been shifted to other carrier air wings on deployment or nearing their departure date, said Navy spokesman Lt. Conrad Chun. Congress approved $2.3 billion for flying in 1994 but the Navy had a $44 million shortfall because of the unanticipated missions, Chun said.
``This is unprecedented in my experience,'' said Cmdr. Lee Holbrook, 39, of Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 132 at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash., who has served in the Navy since 1976. ``We had the unfortunate luck to come back (from deployment) right as the fourth quarter began.''
As a result, Holbrook today commands a squadron that cannot fly its aircraft. He is faced with what he admits is ``a significant challenge'' in leading a team of 24 aviators and 160 enlisted specialists who have no aircraft to maintain or fly.
By mid-September, most of the squadron's pilots and electronic countermeasures officers will lose their Navy flight certification. Regulations require that pilots fly a minimum of 10 hours with two takeoffs and landings every 90 days.
One aircrew will keep its flight certification because it was assigned to ferry another squadron's EA-6B from Whidbey Island to Norfolk for maintenance.
The four Prowler aircraft assigned to VAQ 132 are parked on the Whidbey flightline with their engine intakes covered and other fuselage openings sealed from the weather.
``I don't ever remember putting planes in preservation,'' said Capt. Baker Hamilton, a 26-year Navy veteran who commands the Whidbey-based Electronic Combat Wing Pacific.
The officers stop short of calling the overall situation a crisis. They have been assured that when the 1995 fiscal year begins the fuel money will flow again, Holbrook said.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY BUDGET CUTS by CNB