Military Jet Crashes on Rise: Training, Plane Issues Cited

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"They are going up partly because they are not getting the training they should get. They're going up because maintenance is harder and harder to accomplish. They are going up because the airplanes are getting older and older," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, in an interview with Fox News.

Thornberry said President Obama has effectively sent more U.S. troops into harm's way without paying for the increase in costs.

"When the president sends more people to Afghanistan more people to Iraq, he doesn't ask for more money. The costs just come out of the training, the maintenance and the readiness of our force. The problem is getting worse," he told Fox News.

"I worry about my young aviators that aren't getting the number of hours they need to. And so it's the mishaps that loom over the bow that we don't see coming just now ... Will they have the experience to keep that bad thing from happening?" said Lt. Gen. Jon "Dog" Davis.

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