combat aircraft

BRINGING YOU THE LATEST TALK

FROM AROUND THE SQUADRONS

BY

SCOTT WOLFF

14 December 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

T

HERE IS A well-documented

pilot shortage in the ranks

of all military aviation

components in the US.

Though the US Air Force and

its reserve components have

been hit the hardest of all, the US Navy

is also feeling the e ects in a big way.

A lot of talk has been heard about

possible solutions, many of which revolve

around the concept of throwing more

money at pilots. However, the consensus

in the community is this: incentivizing a

 ghter pilot’s time in hopes of keeping

them in the service is not the solution.

While everyone loves a good bonus and

a pay raise, that is only one of several

components to a long-term solution, and

arguably one of the smaller ones.

To be clear, this is not a new issue.

As has been said before by industry

experts, both military and civilian alike,

there’s always been a cycle to numbers

in the airlines and in the ranks of military

aviation. While one may be feasting, the

other is experiencing more of a famine.

What makes things di erent now is that

both are rapidly approaching an extreme

state of resource depletion.

Airline retirements are near record

levels. With more than 15,000 retirements

expected in the next three to  ve years,

commercial air carriers are legitimately

concerned about their ability to  ll seats in

the cockpit. The largest problem is there

are not enough quali ed applicants in the

hiring pool and the military is no longer a

stable provider of transitioning aviators.

Navy seeks a solution

In its continuing e orts to combat the

retention and readiness problems, the

US Navy is instituting a program which

creates an opportunity for pilots and naval

 ight o cers to stay in service as  ight

instructors later in their careers, side-

stepping the sea/shore duty rotation more

common to the service.

On September 28, the o ce of the

Chief of Naval Operations released

a memo through o cial NAVADMIN

channels, announcing the creation of

the aviation professional  ight instructor

(PFI) billet. The scope of the PFI program

is speci cally geared towards retention,

as well as the di cult challenge of

maintaining combat-readiness in this

present time of resource depletion

a ecting the naval aviation community.

Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR’s)

ability to adequately sta operational

 ying billets, as well as pipeline instructor

positions, is severely crippled because

of the pilot shortage. The navy has

committed to improving readiness in

NAVY

AIMS AT

READINESS

AND

RETENTION

There has

been a lot of

talk about possible

solutions, many of

which revolve around

the concept of throwing

more money at pilots