Bundeswehr pilots can't get enough flight time amid helicopter shortages and are losing their flying licenses as a result. The report is the latest to shed light on the embarrassing state of Germany's armed forces.
Hver 5. NH-90 står på bakken. I tillegg er den ufattelig dyr å fly; det har vært antydet 200 0000,-/t. Skikkelig drittmaskin. (Red.)
Bundeswehr NH90 transport helicopter on a landing strip (picture-alliance/dpa/rtn - radio tele nord/C. Leimig)
More than one in 10 helicopter pilots in the Bundeswehr lost their flying licenses in 2017 because they could not absolve the required amount of flight time, the government said on Thursday.
The Defense Ministry released the figures in a response to a parliamentary inquiry by Green Party lawmaker Agnieszka Brugger.
In its response, the ministry said 19 out of 129 helicopter pilots lost their licenses in 2017 because of insufficient flight time, while 12 out of 135 pilots lost their licenses for the same reason in 2016. The Bundeswehr was able to redistribute the licenses after the pilots completed additional training programs, it added.
Brugger blamed the failure for some pilots to meet the necessary number of flight hours on a lack of working helicopters.
"Not even a third of the most important types of helicopters are fit for service," she told the dpa news agency. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, Brugger added, was not "getting a grip on the dreary situation."
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A Bundeswehr report published in February found that technical problems had grounded 16 out of a total of 72 CH53 transport helicopters and 13 out of a total of 58 NH90 transport helicopters.
The shortages reportedly forced the Defense Ministry to start renting civilian helicopters to ensure pilots could still get flight time.
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