combat aircraft

for a number of reasons. In the 1970s

and 1980s when I grew up there were

still kids motivated to serve, but I think

as we progress through the ages, you

can see that we have a lot of children

now that have had no exposure to the

military and, whilst their grandparents

or great grandparents may have served,

they may never have met them. So,

how do you excite the younger minds

to do something that is going to be

challenging and very rewarding but

extremely di cult? That’s hard to do

when they have an option to go to

college for a computer science degree

and then get paid lots of money. In

the face of that, we are being asked to

potentially double our output of  ghter

pilots. Honestly, it’s going to take more

people and more iron to achieve it.’

A feasible solution

More pilots means increased sorties and

training. The airspace around Columbus

AFB is extremely busy — the squadrons

 y from dawn-to-dusk. ‘In my opinion,

another pilot training base is probably

the easiest thing to do but then you

run into the problem of manning it [on

top of the jets and associated assets],’

says Macasek. ‘I’m not sure on the

possibility of civilian contractor use

either. It works, but the pay is not ideal

for such highly experienced pilots.

Another factor we have is the location.

I personally love it here, but some folks

think Columbus is too remote — it’s

not next to a big city — but then nor

would a new base be because it’s not

cost e ective to buy property in such

locations, plus the noise issues would

also be a factor.

How do you excite the

younger minds to do

something that is going to be

challenging and very rewarding

but extremely diffi cult?

Lt Col John Macasek

UNIT REPORT // 49TH FTS

34 July 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

28-35 Black Knights.indd 34 20/05/2018 11:23