USAF Pilot Shortage

Sounds like it's more to do with the way the structuring is being done between AD squadrons being phased out with the slots being filled by reserve units. That's just budget cutting. There is no 'pilot shortage', pilots are being run off as their planes disappear from inventory.
 
I bet 519 of the 520 are drone drivers...I know a bunch of guys that would be happy if they were not out on their ass because of flying older stuff...if they did not suck the fun out of it would help also....
 
225K bonus and still getting out. Oh, what an aircraft I could buy with that kind of cash. Would have been nice to get a signing bonus. Any bonus.:sad:
 
Warlock said:
I bet 519 of the 520 are drone drivers...I know a bunch of guys that would be happy if they were not out on their ass because of flying older stuff...if they did not suck the fun out of it would help also....
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Yeah, this was pretty much predicted with the advance the f drones, that's why the F-35 program kind of made me wonder why it was completed. A plane nobody wants for a mission that is already being phased out.:dunno:
 
shortage?....then why aren't there slots at UPT? Cuz just went thru this....and there just aren't many slots to fill.
 
Velocity173 said:
225K bonus and still getting out. Oh, what an aircraft I could buy with that kind of cash. Would have been nice to get a signing bonus. Any bonus.:sad:
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Article is misleading - MOST pilots qualify for the same bonus that's been around for at least 10 years. It's a one-time 4 year deal worth $25k/year. Only a few select guys get the $225k offer and they just changed the wording for this years bonus - you can't get anything up front.

The bonus is nice, but it's really not helping keep people in; I got out instead of taking the bonus and couldn't be happier.
 
Bonus? .gov is gonna take almost 50% back right off the top! Thats no bonus. Its a game of find the ball under the cup where the IRS always wins and you get a steak dinner as a consolation prize. Never really agreed with taxing folks in the military. Its pretty much Indian giving if you ask me.

Now, if they can seal that deal over in the sand box, its the whole pie!!
 
Ive got a lot of friends here in the ROTC program and all of them got their first choice. 6 pilots, 1 drone pilot, 1 WSO, 1 PJ, and 1 ABM if I recall. Previously this detachment might get 1 pilot slot every two years.
 
I ran into one of my SparkVark pilots shortly after he started flying for an airline. I asked him how he liked his new job.

"Jim, there's no one to blow!"
 
JimNtexas said:
I ran into one of my SparkVark pilots shortly after he started flying for an airline. I asked him how he liked his new job.

"Jim, there's no one to blow!"
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I'll tell you what, the flying may be boring, but the airlines is the easiest job I've ever had. You are paid to fly airplanes and that's what you do - all the extra red tape (compared to Mil flying) is non-existent. It has certainly been a breath of fresh air for me! I'm really glad I went to the airlines - I was waffling for a long time thinking I would hate it, but so far so good.
 
EvilEagle said:
I'll tell you what, the flying may be boring, but the airlines is the easiest job I've ever had. You are paid to fly airplanes and that's what you do - all the extra red tape (compared to Mil flying) is non-existent. It has certainly been a breath of fresh air for me! I'm really glad I went to the airlines - I was waffling for a long time thinking I would hate it, but so far so good.
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The only guys that have it any better are the guys that fly for the airlines and play war in the reserves. A foot in both worlds.
 
EvilEagle said:
I'll tell you what, the flying may be boring, but the airlines is the easiest job I've ever had. You are paid to fly airplanes and that's what you do - all the extra red tape (compared to Mil flying) is non-existent. It has certainly been a breath of fresh air for me! I'm really glad I went to the airlines - I was waffling for a long time thinking I would hate it, but so far so good.
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Lol! That's exactly what I tell everyone now that I'm retired. It's like "a breath of fresh air." Friends and family outside of aviation don't understand the differences in flying civilian compared to military. They think, well he's flying a helicopter now just not in an Army uniform. Couldn't be farther from the truth. I get paid to fly now, that's it. No BS simulated training events, no living in a tent, no stupid SHARP , SAEDA and all those other classes to attend, no 0630 PT formations and no planning for a week to do a multi ship power point brief on a 1 hr flight and no worrying about making sure my OER is competive enough to get promoted.

Get to fly single pilot now, which I've always preferred over dual pilot. Easy planning. Annual 135 rides can't even come close to annual rides in the Army. One online aviation class a month that takes me all of 20 minutes to do. Besides the occasional landing on a road intersection in the middle of the night in MVFR, the flying isn't even challenging. As long as you show up to work on time in a clean uniform and transport the patient safety without violating any rules, you'll never hear from management.

A buddy of mine who went air ambulance after he retired as well said "I can't believe we get paid to do this." I get paid slightly less but I do about 1/4 of the work and no BS red tape. Love it.
 
Art VanDelay said:
The only guys that have it any better are the guys that fly for the airlines and play war in the reserves. A foot in both worlds.
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I'm told that the rule of thumb is 'airline, guard/reserve pilot, family: pick any two'.
 
Seanaldinho said:
Ive got a lot of friends here in the ROTC program and all of them got their first choice. 6 pilots, 1 drone pilot, 1 WSO, 1 PJ, and 1 ABM if I recall. Previously this detachment might get 1 pilot slot every two years.
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The problem isn't with the number of applicants. And detachments aren't given a certain number of pilot slots. You are thrown in a pool with every other ROTC cadet that raised their hand to apply for pilot.
 
Considering time 2d Lts are sitting on casual status before getting to start training it is no surprise. USAF can't seem to figure out a way to get people through IFS, UPT, and then follow on training without huge gaps. Some of the maintenance issues at UPT bases are not helping!

The you have less retention of experienced guys, and a training pipeline that is failing to produce the number of pilots it used to--let alone what it needs to produce now!
 
JimNtexas said:
I'm told that the rule of thumb is 'airline, guard/reserve pilot, family: pick any two'.
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I think that really depends on the situation. It's different, but not necessarily worse. I'm home more now as a part timer and airline guy than I was as a full timer by the time you factor in additional non-deployment TDY's, cross countrys, conferences, sim trips and sitting alert 5 or 6 days a month. Being a full time guy in the Guard was way more of a time crunch than even AD (you just don't get the crappy AD deployments).

Having an understanding spouse (and not commuting to both jobs) are high on the list if you want to be successful.
 
TUPilot said:
Considering time 2d Lts are sitting on casual status before getting to start training it is no surprise. USAF can't seem to figure out a way to get people through IFS, UPT, and then follow on training without huge gaps. Some of the maintenance issues at UPT bases are not helping!

The you have less retention of experienced guys, and a training pipeline that is failing to produce the number of pilots it used to--let alone what it needs to produce now!
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whatever they are doing, it is better than the USN/USMC in terms of "time to train". I was 2 months shy of promoting to O-3 before I even got to my first operational unit (which isn't unusual in my community).
 
Yep, it's tougher and tougher to get to an ops squadron before pinning on Captain. I went to UPT over 15 years ago and I had to sit casual for 9 months then. By the time I did UPT, IFF, land survival, water survival, two trips to the centrifuge and the B course I was well into my two year stint as an O-2.
 
The Guard guys who also have airline jobs have a good deal: they maintain their seniority and can literally take years away from their airline job to deploy, do tours, and build points, and their airline job will still be there when they're done. It's the best of both worlds.
 
Yeah but you can't collect retirement in the Guard until 60 yrs old...minus 90 day deployed time reduction. Also, these days NG and ANG deploy almost as much as AD. It's not the stay at home and serve your state Guard anymore.
 
35 AoA said:
whatever they are doing, it is better than the USN/USMC in terms of "time to train". I was 2 months shy of promoting to O-3 before I even got to my first operational unit (which isn't unusual in my community).
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2 months shy of O-3? You must have been on the fast track.

2 months shy of TWO YEARS as an O-3 here, and I know others that were slower!

What a waste of time...
 
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I made it to my first unit as a O-1 flying advance aircraft at the time AH-1....times have changed and not for the better...
 
turbofan said:
2 months shy of O-3? You must have been on the fast track.

2 months shy of TWO YEARS as an O-3 here, and I know others that were slower!

What a waste of time...
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haha what? Was that after starting out as an A-pool/API Ensign? That is crazy. I never heard of anyone taking that long, aside from some really non-traditional backgrounds, when I went through. Even the Marines were only pinning O-3 partway through the RAG. Not that I don't believe it.......I've heard stories about things slowing down significantly in the last few years, just didn't know it was that bad.
 
35 AoA said:
haha what? Was that after starting out as an A-pool/API Ensign? That is crazy. I never heard of anyone taking that long, aside from some really non-traditional backgrounds, when I went through. Even the Marines were only pinning O-3 partway through the RAG. Not that I don't believe it.......I've heard stories about things slowing down significantly in the last few years, just didn't know it was that bad.
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Better believe it. Dudes might be O-4 selects in their first fleet tour. I have a hard time believing the "pilot shortage" in the military is anything but self-inflicted. I can't even think about it anymore it pi$ses me off so much.
 
we had a couple guys in my JO squadron who almost got to that point, basically due to the API backlog after Hurricane Ivan ('05 YG folks), but for the most part, guys were either senior O-2 or junior O-3 when checking in. That sounds rough man, talk about waste of resources
 
I made it to my ops squadron as an O-1 and stayed that way for about 6 months after. But not having to do IFF and doing initial training at my ops base helped.
 
Warlock said:
I made it to my first unit as a O-1 flying advance aircraft at the time AH-1....times have changed and not for the better...
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In 2007 they rewrote the Commanders Guide so that all O-1s had to be assigned a FAC 1 position out of flight school. It was a good idea but in practice that never really occurred because they didn't update the MTOE to reflect it. Still have guys going to staff, FAC 2 positions right out of flight school.

Of course as a WO1 I was assigned a line unit and flew the very next day after inprocessing. Averaged over 300 hrs a yr for the next 12 yrs.
 
My first three years I flew 956 hours....but that was Reagan Years prior to the Wall coming down and part of a unit that had border trace duty in west Germany and part of the only night company in Europe that was mission trained...that just does not happen anymore for commissioned guys. The old H series Company for part of that time (That was a plus) but also a battalion staff member as well. I actively flew both OH-58 A/C and AH-1's as a PIC at the same time and occasionally left seat in one of the units UH-1s on parts runs...WO in the unit flew even more...
 
Velocity173 said:
Yeah but you can't collect retirement in the Guard until 60 yrs old...minus 90 day deployed time reduction. Also, these days NG and ANG deploy almost as much as AD. It's not the stay at home and serve your state Guard anymore.
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True if you get a traditional guard retirement. Guys like me who did 12 years AD then came to the guard are mostly getting full retirements by picking up AGR/ADOS/Deployment time.

Just because you are in the guard doesn't mean you can't get a full-time normal active duty retirement. It's tough for the guys who were never AD, but some guys are making it happen.

Definitely right on the change in the ANG - we are on the road a lot!
 
EvilEagle said:
True if you get a traditional guard retirement. Guys like me who did 12 years AD then came to the guard are mostly getting full retirements by picking up AGR/ADOS/Deployment time.

Just because you are in the guard doesn't mean you can't get a full-time normal active duty retirement. It's tough for the guys who were never AD, but some guys are making it happen.

Definitely right on the change in the ANG - we are on the road a lot!
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Yeah friend of mine finished 12 yrs AD Army and went Georgia NG. I guess his retirement points will be a lot higher than traditional NG guys.

I would think you being strictly fighter you'd stay here more than F/A??? When I was in Iraq I remember at Kirkuk and Balad they were all ANG F-16s. Seemed like ANG pulled that duty over the years more than AD. OEF seemed to be the other way around. It was all AD AF when I was there. Hopefully now things will stabilize a bit and you all will spend more time at home.
 
If your friend does AGR or ADOS, he doesn't have to do anything with points, it will be a full-time retirement just like if he had stayed AD the whole time. Points only start coming into play if you take a traditional ANG/NG retirement.

I haven't been back to Iraq or Afg since I left AD. There's nothing there for us to do (F-15C) - we do deploy to support TSPs though and those are expanding all the time. Nothing like sitting in the UAE all summer (130+ degrees) and not flying combat. Oh the fun!

Sounds like the next one might be somewhere fun if the Ukraine situation doesn't calm down. It'd be nice to get sent somewhere I wouldn't hate for 4 months, but we'll see if I'm that lucky.
 
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