You don't have to take the permissive job hunting TDY in conjunction with your terminal. It can be taken separately, or in several small pieces as long as the total doesn't exceed 20 days.

Projections are that the fighter pilot shortage will reach about 1500 before it starts to improve. The AF is currently 300+ Fighter Pilots short right now, but we're also 2000+ officers overmanned. HAF/A1PP is having a hard time justifying another rated recall, or even extensions to the current recallees given the $ costs of the overmanning. There will likely be very limited extensions and/or recall opportunities, particularly for fighter guys, but the timing may not line up well enough to count on it.

True...I should have said that this is how I chose to use my Permissive TDY. It allowed me to take an earlier class date, thus getting a better seniority number.

Are fighter pilot projections that important anymore with a Chief of Staff who is mobility/special ops and an ACC commander who is a bomber pilot? I think they'd be more concerned with the number of pilots in general, particularly for the largest group: UAVs.

Perhaps you know: is an officer on active duty with his retirement application submitted treated differently than one who has already retired? Or are they treated the same? Despite the over end strength numbers, it seems logical that if a person were in a critical career field, i.e., EOD, Security Forces, Special Ops, or UAV Pilots, wouldn't the AF consider keeping that asset?

I think HAF/A1PP will not have a difficult time making its case as airline mandatory retirement numbers are presented...in excess of 2,000 by 2015... Probably ought to try and lock those guys in now. I use to work in HAF/XOOT (now AF/A3O-AT) and our job was managing the overall training pipeline and distribution of pilots, working side by side with what use to be AF/DPPP to ensure the red line (Requirements) and blue line (Inventory) were not that far apart.

Treated how? Meaning do they give preference to the guy still in when they did the recall? I don't know if they did.

A1PP is fighting for money with everyone else. A3O and A1P both know there's a wave of departures coming. Tom W. at A3O-AT thinks they can keep the total RL/BL matched once you add in 18X's (UAV operators), but the fighter pilots cann't keep up with demands.

Probably a good time to be a fighter pilot if advancement is your goal. Aren't there year groups with more CC slots that fighter pilots available? Yep, I remember Tom W. & John W., left in 2006.

You aren't posting while you're at work, are you? ;)

BUMP

Let's say someone was a couple years out from the end of their ADSC. Is there any reason that they shouldn't just go ahead and put their apps in now? Obviously they should put their availability date as the day after their ADSC expires or whatever. But is there anything wrong with having an app in years in advance?

Nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, I think it would be looked at favorably, as long as you were consistently updating the app at least monthly.

I have been told that Delta has hired a guy over 12 months from retirement/separation from active duty. I believe that airlines are going to get caught up on their hiring and start interviewing guys easily 10-18 months out in hopes of locking up solid military candidates as early as possible. There is a surplus right now, but soon there will be less military pilots able to leave than there are spots at 121 gigs. It seems likely that an airline would want to try to get you on the hook early in hopes that you will take the first job you are offered and coast your last year or so before separation.

There is nothing to be lost by hitting send on your app early except if you are not willing to keep it updated at least monthly.

any idea if OP got a job ? Post was 2011

I saw a post where it sounds like he got hired by Kalitta.