It isn’t just that the USAF is short pilots…
#1
It isn’t just that the USAF is short pilots…
The ones they have are getting few flying hours…
https://www.airforcemag.com/air-forc...rief-recovery/
Flying hours are key to readiness, and are usually a good overall barometer of other readiness factors such as pilot and spare parts availability, speed of throughput at depots, and operations budgets. They are also affected by combat operations. Inadequate flying hours reduces pilot proficiency and correlates with increased accident rates.
According to figures provided to Air Force Magazine, pilot flying hours across all types of aircraft in the Active-duty force averaged 10.1 hours per month in fiscal 2021, down from 10.9 hours in 2020. Flying hours had averaged just 6.8 per month in 2019, down sharply from 10.7 in 2018. Hours for 2022 so far were not provided. The service did not offer commentary on why hours had changed as they did.
In a Heritage Foundation event June 1, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said, “I’m not happy with where we are” on flying hours. He said the Budget Control Act forced the Air Force to restrict hours for a decade, and the service “never recovered” from that pattern. The Air Force is now able to “do more with simulators,” though, because that technology has advanced rapidly and can now deliver extremely high fidelity virtual presentations of the flying environment. Simulator hours are generally far less costly than real-world flying, and allow aviators to rehearse dealing with emergencies that can’t be practiced in a real, flying airplane.
The Air Force said its numbers for flying hours are for real-world flying only, and do not include simulator time.
Absolute number of aircraft has taken a huge hit as well…
https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/w...nal-update.pdf
https://www.airforcemag.com/air-forc...rief-recovery/
Air Force Flying Hours Decline Again After Brief Recovery
June 1, 2022 | By John A. TirpakAcross all categories except reconnaissance, the Active-duty Air Force flew fewer hours in fiscal 2021 than it did the previous year, after making gains in most categories of flying from the year before. However, there were flying hour improvements in some mission areas for the Air National Guard and an improvement overall for the Air Force Reserve.Flying hours are key to readiness, and are usually a good overall barometer of other readiness factors such as pilot and spare parts availability, speed of throughput at depots, and operations budgets. They are also affected by combat operations. Inadequate flying hours reduces pilot proficiency and correlates with increased accident rates.
According to figures provided to Air Force Magazine, pilot flying hours across all types of aircraft in the Active-duty force averaged 10.1 hours per month in fiscal 2021, down from 10.9 hours in 2020. Flying hours had averaged just 6.8 per month in 2019, down sharply from 10.7 in 2018. Hours for 2022 so far were not provided. The service did not offer commentary on why hours had changed as they did.
In a Heritage Foundation event June 1, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said, “I’m not happy with where we are” on flying hours. He said the Budget Control Act forced the Air Force to restrict hours for a decade, and the service “never recovered” from that pattern. The Air Force is now able to “do more with simulators,” though, because that technology has advanced rapidly and can now deliver extremely high fidelity virtual presentations of the flying environment. Simulator hours are generally far less costly than real-world flying, and allow aviators to rehearse dealing with emergencies that can’t be practiced in a real, flying airplane.
The Air Force said its numbers for flying hours are for real-world flying only, and do not include simulator time.
https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/w...nal-update.pdf
#4
But historically, better trained pilots was a huge advantage over our opponents. The thinking now is that we can do that with better technology. That needs to be proven and some are very skeptical that that theory is true.
#5
Certain niche missions (special operations) really require full-time attendance.
Mobility IMO is pretty easy to stay current, since reserves actually fly real mobility missions on their part-time days. They also tend to do short (90 day) deployments to combat zones... that's mainly to take the load off the AD, but it also keeps the reserves sharp.
Also most reserve/guard pilots already did 10 years active duty... so the they are, man-for-man, already more experienced that the AD squadrons.
Reserve/guard fighter pilots routinely used to out-score AD in exercises, and also man much of the aggressor/adversary community. Experienced AD pilots get sent off to staff tours, many guard/reserve can stay in the cockpit much longer.
Also most reserve pilots are also civilian pilots, so they get some basic proficiency just doing that, at least more so than a guy who's a lawyer in his civilian life.
The reserve aviation community is the most tactically proficient of all reserve military specialties IMO.
#7
It isn’t just that the USAF is short pilots…
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#8
AD aviators don't fly that much in the grand scheme, they spend 20 days/month on admin and BS.
#9
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