Air Force Acts to Cut Flier Stress

Troubled by signs of over-stressed crews, the Air Force is canceling all major flier competitions for the rest of the year, officials said. It also is sharply reducing the number of participants in desert warfare training for Air Force security forces, and ending one long-standing air training program. “Scaling back on exercise and competition commitments was one way to ease the pace for people in the command,” Air Combat Command said in a statement released at the Pentagon. Several recent studies have cited signs of lagging morale among air crews.