Air Force Strategies Chipping Away at Pilot Shortfall. Ramped-up retention efforts and new training programs are helping, slowly:


https://www.flyingmag.com/air-force-...lot-shortfall/

Big Blue is tone-deaf when it come to retention. The only play they have is offering mediocre money on terms no one wants.

"I want to stay at my base and keep flying. I want to instruct at the schoolhouse. I want a stable life for my family."

"Oh, ok. You want a bonus and want to commit to more ADSC. Well you're not eligible yet."

"No, I just want to stay here and keep flying, I want a stable life for my family."

"Oooooh. Well how 'bout we non'vol you to UPT then. A big, disruptive move will be good for your family."

"Goodbye."

"Well in that case, here's a 6 month non-flying deployment you ungrateful bastard."

This, so much this ∆∆∆

also, I know it’s 1530 on Friday, but I need you to come up with 30 bullets for our squadron award package that the wing execs forgot about for the past two months.


(this one actually happened at my squadron)

I love to see that all the branches hate their pilots equally. The moment you aren't the solution they want regardless of your work ethic, prior history, and contributions, you are immediately considered part of the problem.

On the Army side the helo guys were told this exact quote by the senior warrant officer of the aviation branch; "If the Air Force loses its pilots, it's not the Air Force. If the Army loses its pilots, it's still the Army." That was three years ago and the bleeding hasn't stopped...so they instituted a 10 year obligation POST flight school. It had been six. Hope the Army guys don't share their brilliant ideas to fix the problem with your people.

Big Blue did that years ago as well. Upped it from 8 to 10 yrs, once rated, aka post flight school. I can count on one hand guys I know that I started out with as butter bars who stayed in beyond their commitments. Granted, most went Guard/Reserve, but NOBODY is staying especially not for the 35K/yr bonus to sign away 10 more yrs of their lives.

That's it?! 35k a year for you guys with your ratings/ certs? Versus your pay scale outside? They are impressively out of touch. Did that program I read annoy in 2017/2018 every go through? It was to offer two paths; one being the traditional move up, hold command positions, staff, blah both blah traditional route and the other was geared to letting the flyers be flyers over the course of their career. It seemed like a real way to address the issue seen in your industry is moving up means moving away from hit flight line.

The Army literally treats their pilots like they are ground pounders who also happen to know how to fly. 20 years ago, army aviators could at least wear flight suits. Now even the FW army pilots wear ACU's or whatever they're called now, which is ridiculous. I can't imagine wearing NWU's in the cockpit - they're already hot and uncomfortable, definitely not designed for that on a humid summer day. I still can't believe the army took away your flight suits - it's like it bothered them too much that you weren't as miserable in some facet of your lives as the rest of them.

The Army has one advantage over the other branches that will always ensure a ready supply of pilots - it doesn't require a college degree and will literally train pilots straight out of high school. Never underestimate the recruiting potential of giving an 18 year old the prospect of flying an Apache; it's an endless, bottomless pit of willing recruits who don't care about QOL, family concerns, pay/incentives or how often they have to PCS.

I had heard from buddies that it tanked but that it was doomed from the beginning. It was offered on a limited scall to a small group of people. When the offer was officially made, some didn't trust that they wouldn't be punished for volunteering. Couple that with the fact that most would rather get out anyway and you have a coffin that is fully nailed shut for that program.

As always, take this with a large grain of salt. My info came a long way down through the grapevine.

The year was 2007. I remember it well. It didn't effect me as much because I was in year two of flight school, but all the instructors lost their minds.

And that statement is exactly right. Sergeant Majors hated flight suits and finally convinced the brass to get rid of it. You're just like everyone else in the Army Soldier, with the exception of the cost of your training literally quadrupling any other field that WE actually train.

Sorry to have hijacked the thread. I genuinely feel worse for the AF guys because when you come into the Army, they let you know you're a garbage person day one. The AF always had the globo-gym feel for QOL. "Here at Air Force, we're better than you, and we know it." Now it looks like even that's going away for the pilots.