Image by Fort Rucker

SOURCE UPDATE: Looks like they moved money around and covered tracks and will keep flight school going.

The cradle of Army Aviation, Fort Rucker, has been defunded in favor of sending aid to Ukraine.

The email below shows 90+% of flight line operation funding disappearing, reporters Terminal CWO on his Telegram channel.

Fort Rucker trains all U.S. Army pilots.

Fort Rucker (Novosel) and USAACE lost $130m of their $140m training budget. Multiple senior aviation officials, along with official correspondence, confirm this. 

On May 1, USAACE will be without funds to continue Flight School XXI. The funds have been allocated to “Ukraine and other foreign obligations” according to official messaging. There is currently a plan of action at G3 Air that may delay this until May 15. There are exceptions to this:

- Graduate POl (i.e. D/1-14*h) will continue to fly.

- Flight School IERW FMS students will continue to fly. Their funding has been pre-paid by host countries.

- Students will continue to go through Academics at Merryman.

- LCT periods will continue.

While training has been discontinued, students will be required to continue reporting to the flight line for accountability. There will be no A940/ATP training flights. Dept of Army Civilians and contractors will continue to be paid without furlough.

It’s unknown how long training will be discontinued. The Army will likely move money around to continue training before the end of the fiscal year, but this is speculation. Several officials are also dismissing the significance of the school shutting down for new pilots due to the already high number of WO1s and LTs in the force. 

The lack of funding follows on the heels of an unprecedented number of aviation mishaps in FY23. Defense News wrote, “Fiscal 2023 marked the highest death rate for Army soldiers since the U.S. withdrew from Iraq in 2011, with a total of 14 dead across 10 accidents, formally known as Class A mishaps, meaning accidents that result in the loss of life or the loss of equipment totaling more than $2.5 million.”