In 1982, after eleven years of AV-8A operational flying, including 55 peacetime aircraft losses, the Commandant of the time asked the Harrier community to address the serious problem of flight safety.
The reason for his concern was "a high mishap rate within the AV-8A community' anticipated continuing turbulence' and a pressing requirement to reduce the mishap rate in order to provide the assets needed for successful transition to the AV-8B."