Gear up, mishaps down : the evolution of naval aviation safety, 1950-2000 / Vice Adm. Robert F. Dunn, USN (Ret).

Includes bibliographical references( pages 185-194) and index.

Preface: A most remarkable story -- Black as midnight -- Difficult days: a soaring mishap rate -- The competition: American aviation overall -- Beginning to get it right -- Naval aviation's transition to jets -- Aircraft carriers: changes and modifications -- Beyond jets and aircraft carriers -- The catalyst for improvement: the Naval Safety Center -- Six amazing years: RAGS, NATOPS, and more -- The doc: aerospace medicine-- flight surgeons and more -- Discovering human factors -- Naval aviation maintenance and supply -- The underappreciated: aircraft, aircraft systems, and design safety -- Making believe: simulators and synthetic trainers -- On to the twenty-first century: ORM, CRM, and culture workshops -- Success: Summary and conclusions -- Afterword -- Appendix 1: Marine aviation -- Appendix 2: Naval Safety Center yearly major mishap statistics -- Appendix 3: Navy and Marine accident reporting classifications -- Appendix 4: Aviation-oriented safety center publications -- Appendix 5: Principal carrier alterations -- Appendix 6: Typical straight-deck carrier landing pattern -- Chronology -- Glossary.

"Less than five years after naval aviation had been in the forefront of the forces that defeated Imperial Japan, it found itself in serious trouble. One of the first steps to re-order priorities and save naval aviation was to solve the problem of increasing numbers of accidents. Over the next fifty years that problem was indeed solved to the extent that today, despite hot wars, cold wars, contingencies and peacetime operations in support of friends and allies the Navy/Marine accident rate is at least as good as that of the Air Force and approached that of commercial aviation. The keys to how this was achieved lies with dedicated and professional leadership, a focus on lessons learned from mishaps and near-mishaps, a willingness to learn and adopt new leadership, training, management, maintenance and supply styles and procedures. All this and more is described in this book."--Provided by publisher.