An Air Force accident investigation found that the crash of a HH-60 Pave Hawk on May 11 near Angel Fire, N.M., that resulted in the death of flight engineer TSgt. Scott A. Bobbitt, was caused primarily by pilot error. Contributing to the accident, though, were unfavorable weather conditions and “general complacency” of the flight crew, stated an Air Education and Training Command recap of the accident report. The HH-60 was assigned to the 58th Special Operations Wing, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.