It is common knowledge that the Air Force and White House were roundly criticized for the Air Force One flyover in New York, a faux paus that ended the political career of the leader of the White House Military Office.  Since then, the military has made a point of announcing significant exercises and events that might attract the attention of the public, particularly those that involve aircraft.

Unfortunately, such announcements risk exposing the unpredictability of scheduling events that involve military aircraft.  For example, the Air Force Times published an AP report that noted NORAD had postponed a widely announced exercise–again.  (The most recent announcement indicates it will take place today.)  While the on-again, off-again scheduling may seem like poor performance on the part of the military, its actually standard fare for military exercises–especially when aircraft are involved.

There are a huge number of factors that influence a schedule, including weather, airspace, maintenance, aircrew, and external events, to name a few.  Any individual thing can cause a schedule change in one area that will affect dozens of others. While most operators accept these changes as the necessary cost of accompishing the mission, to outsiders it can seem like the military can’t get its act together.  The truth is that there are thousands of moving parts to any schedule, and they are often built like a “house of cards.”

Sometimes, schedule changes occur simply to meet the needs (or whims) of leadership or the mission.  As a result, while every Air Force Academy cadet memorizes the mantra that

Flexibility is the key to airpower.

many also learn the corollary:

Indecision is the key to flexibility.

(What’s the key to indecision?  Ask a fighter pilot.)

The fluidity in a pilot’s schedule can lead to a difficulty in establishing routine, which can lead to other challenges in life.  This was discussed both as a typical part of a fighter pilot’s day, as well as a challenge to Establishing a Spiritual Lifestyle.

Jets “breaking” is often one of the most common causes of schedule changes, particularly since they can break in so many different ways and at any point in a planned sortie.  The relationship between maintenance (the people who repair and maintain the airplanes) and operations (the aircrew who fly them) is at times strongly cooperative–and at others strongly resistant.

There is a fairly standard joke in the aviation fields of the military that takes on many variations, but goes something like this:

Schedule 8 aircraft [because maintenance can’t support the other 2]
Brief 6 aircrew [because 2 aircraft are already Code 3]
Step 4 [since 2 were never crew ready]
Start engines in 3 [when one isn’t ready when the pilot arrives]
Taxi 2 [because one breaks after engine start]
and Launch 1 [when the other breaks at the end of the runway]
…and the remaining singleton will come back as an In-Flight Emergency.

In short, do a whole lot of work to accomplish nothing.  Though somewhat cynical (and unfair to blame only maintenance), such spates of broken jets occasionally curse virtually every Air Force (and Navy) unit.

Such challenges make it difficult to produce a steady, unchanging schedule–something pilots learn to accept (even if they don’t like it), though others may not understand.