Originally Posted by
Duffman
During COVID, with zero attrition, they were only able to decrease the shortage by 300 pilots? How long have the Majors been hiring? 6 Months? It takes time to leave the military, even without a service commitment. With AA, DAL, and UAL each hiring 200+ a month, I'm betting there are tons of guys who are "still on the books" with the AF even though they're out the door. The AF only produces 1200 pilots a year, or roughly 2 months of legacy hiring numbers. If they really don't see these numbers as a Master Warning, they're dangerously out of touch. They might be on glideslope, but their descent rate is about to be 2000 fpm.
Solid point. Too bad they don't let this be a good thing to reset things. We all know staffs at all levels became incredibly bloated during the GWOT years. Get the 11Xs out of them, back to squadrons and flying again. Or actually follow through on guys/gals requests. I know of zero people who have received a single assignment they requested. Guys who are O3s or O4s who are ready to punch when the staff crap shows up may reconsider if they know they'll PCS to another flying tour. But then again, big blue will say one thing, do another, and why wouldn't anyone rather be at AA/UA/DAL?