would take a lot of the load away from the
B-Courses, particularly the quali cation
training in the aircraft that they are
going to.’
In terms of addressing the manpower
shortages, he says: ‘We have ramped up
our training here at Columbus, but the
USAF is a big machine — very similar to
the airlines — you always have people
coming in and you always have people
leaving. AETC has asked all pilot training
bases across the Air Force increase
production, but the problem for us is that
the absorption from the combat air force
is not there. We can produce a lot [of new
pilots] and we’ve been ramped up for
a little over a year now, but what we’ve
started to see is that our output can’t
start their B-Courses because of a lack ofAbove: The daily
grind! A sharp
four-ship of AT-
38Cs on a mission
from Columbus.
Frank Crébas/
Bluelife Aviation
Right: The IFF
course is the
stepping-stone
from fast jet
training to the
B-Course for a
front line fi ghter.UNIT REPORT // 49TH FTS
32 July 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
28-35 Black Knights.indd 32 20/05/2018 11:22