The economy makes
a difference
Between 1996 and 2000, the air force
o ered cash bonuses to pilots and
doubled new aircrew production from
500 to 1,000 per year. The terror attacks
on September 11, 2001 then cut deeply
into airlines’ revenue and hiring. In fact,
US airlines red 7,500 pilots after ‘9/11’.
Lo and behold, by 2006 the air force had
13,600 pilots — 200 more than it needed.
Twelve years later in 2018, the
economy is healthy and airlines are
hiring again. Meanwhile two decades of
wartime deployments are taking theirtoll on morale at the same time that
the air force is actually planning to add
several ghter squadrons to its structure.
It should come as no surprise, then,
that the service is short of thousands of
pilots. This has all happened before.
The solutions also should not be
surprising. The air force should do what it
did in the past to solve aircrew shortages
that, at times, were far worse than today’s
is. Pay pilots more. Try to reduce the time
they spend on deployment. Meanwhile,
train more pilots. And wait for the
economy to slow down... and for airlines
to cut their own hiring.Above: An
unrelenting
deployment
schedule is one
of the key factors
in the current
situation.
ANG/SSgt
Colton Elliott
Below: The advent
of the new T-X
trainer to replace
the T-38C should
have a positive
impact on the
USAF’s ability to
tailor training for
newer types. SrA
James Crowhttp://www.combataircraft.net // July 2018 39
36-39 Pilot Crisis C.indd 39 20/05/2018 11:36