A recent deadly collision over Washington, D.C. involving an Army helicopter has brought sudden national scrutiny to the service and its missions over the nation’s capital, but a master Army aviator told Breitbart News that they had been at risk for years.

In fact, the aviator said, the Army was so strapped for experienced pilots that up through 2023 it was sending its most junior pilots fresh out of flight school to fly these specialized missions. At one point, an estimated 40 percent of the pilots assigned to these missions, which can include evacuating leaders in the event of an attack, were on their first assignment, the aviator said.

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