The OPS DESK
BRINGING YOU THE LATEST TALK FROM AROUND THE SQUADRONS
THE PILOT SHORTAGE in the US Air Force is a big deal. As Gen David Goldfein, the USAF chief of staf has previously stated, ‘There’s no silver bullet solution.’ More money is not the problem and, by itself, provides little incentive for pilots to stay in when the airlines or air cargo operations like UPS or FedEx provide outstanding pay, great beneits packages and ofer a better quality of life.
The last part is the key — quality of life. Life in the active-duty air force is like a sprint: every two to three years means another move, another duty station, another group of friends left behind, and new relationships and cohesiveness to establish at a new unit. It lacks the stability that is so critical to those who have families, which has been a big selling point for aviators leaving activeduty and going to Air Force Reserve Command or the Air National Guard.
While the airlines and cargo carriers have upped their hiring to more than 4,000 pilots per year, traditional air force undergraduate pilot training (UPT) pipelines have remained at about 1,200 students per year. In order to keep up with the current exodus, USAF oicials want to ‘surg…
