Flight hours plunged during COVID, but aircraft mishap rates ticked up Stephen Losey
keyboard arrow down
Two Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, assigned to the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, fly in formation with two Royal Saudi Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles during an exercise over Southwest Asia Dec. 15. The Air Force recorded fewer major mishaps in 2020 but a steep decline in flight hours during the pandemic meant the mishap rate actually ticked up last year. (Staff Sgt. Taylor Harrison/Air Force) The Air Force saw the fewest of the three most serious classes of mishaps involving manned aircraft in at least a decade in fiscal 2020.