According to a report by Flight Global, USAF officials believe brownout conditions caused the April 8 crash of a CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft that killed four, two Air Force Special Operations Command airmen, a US soldier, and a civilian. Flight Global attributes the information to “a source familiar with preliminary findings of the US military investigation.” DARPA and the services have been working for several years on varied solutions to the problem of brownout, the term used to describe a greatly reduced visibility condition often caused by rotary wing aircraft in desert-like terrain. (For more on brownout solutions, also see Special Operations Technology July 2009 report; Aviation Today April 2010 report)
Unit commanders are being told to separate service members who can’t shave their cheeks and chin for medical reasons for more than a year, according to new guidance from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
