VX-31 earns seventh CNO Aviation Safety Award

The Dust Devils of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 31 won the Chief of Naval Operations Aviation Safety Award for fiscal 2025, their seventh since 2003 and their second in three years.

The award, known as the CNO Safety "S," is given annually to U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviation units operating under Navy chains of command, with one squadron selected per aircraft type per coast.

The honor recognizes squadrons for "exceptional professionalism, commitment to excellence, solid leadership and teamwork, the high-velocity outcomes, and in-depth risk management culture which resulted in safe and effective operations."

In January, a new hangar door rolled open at China Lake and 425 people walked through. They had just left their temporary spaces and consolidated under one roof in Hangar 6, a new facility built to replace the one the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake destroyed. In March, U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Timothy Burchett took command. By September, the squadron had retired the AV-8B Harrier after roughly 40 years of testing. And in October, it stood up a new Unmanned Systems Department.

Three transitions in nine months. The safety program held.

"The squadron had an intense focus on building new habit patterns that leveraged historical best practices and adapted them to our new surroundings," Burchett said. "This diligent focus on basics and procedural compliance at all levels of the squadron led to a large reduction in ground mishaps and reflected a culture wherein safety was viewed not as a burden but as a critical enabler for mission success."

Mishaps went down. Hard.

Compared to fiscal 2024, VX-31 recorded a 19% reduction in overall aviation mishaps and a 78% decrease in aviation ground operation mishaps. And that from a squadron flying 30 aircraft across seven Type/Model/Series, where 40% of flights are tests and every airframe carries experimental hardware or software not yet fielded.

James Coppersmith has been at VX-31, on and off, since 2002. He is now the squadron's technical director.

"Our range of missions, uniquely configured aircraft, and workforce composition has no parallel in Fleet squadrons," Coppersmith said. "Our safety culture bridges the gap between high-stakes developmental test flights and the unforgiving environments of high-elevation and Mojave Desert search and rescue missions."

At China Lake, in the Indian Wells Valley between the Sierra Nevada and Death Valley, VX-31 also runs a search and rescue department. Its MH-60S crews rappel into canyons, hoist stranded hikers off mountain ledges, and land in thin air that pushes the helicopter to its operating limits.

Then there was U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph Tom.

In August, Maj. Tom was preparing for an Automatic Terrain Awareness Warning System test flight when he caught a configuration mismatch during pre-flight. The aircraft was outside asymmetry limits for takeoff. Left unnoticed, it could have caused a mishap after rotation. So Tom flagged it, maintenance corrected it, and the test flew successfully. He later earned a Safety Pro award.

"It's a culture where every single person is empowered to use the No Vote and stop an evolution for safety," said Kristine Sweigart, VX-31 safety officer.

The commodore saw it too.

"VX-31 earning the Safety 'S' is a direct reflection of a command that executes some of Naval Aviation's most demanding test missions with discipline, professionalism, and sound risk management," said U.S. Navy Capt. David Halpern, Naval Test Wing Pacific commodore. "It reflects strong leadership, engaged deckplate ownership, and a team that understands safety is fundamental to readiness."