F-22 Raptor pilots are leaving because the plane is way too easy to fly. Too easy to fly?
Is it because the Acemaker is too easy to fly?
Or they don't wanna become instant flying aces?
Raptor pilots should be given at least 180 AFH (annual flying hours) to help them get accustomed, but the 5th Gen jet fighter is a maintenance quagmire.
Retaining experienced fighter pilots is important not only for warfighting, but also for training newer, less-experienced pilots.
True.
This article is from 2008
Just how many hours a month do fighter pilots get to fly?
Perhaps this is because Mr. FUBO gave a big, fat F-U to this bird by cancelling it. Obama.. the Pride killer.
deployment tempo?
Does the problem rates predate Obama into the Bush years, or is this an Obama specific problem?
I wonder what the overall retention rate is for AF pilots? Knowing that might indicate it’s a broader issue. Fighter pilots don’t leave their cockpits to go to heavies or a desk (unless it’s time to punch the staff tour ticket for promotion) so this tells me most of them are leaving the Air Force after their hitch is up.
If it is one of the problems cited in the article I would suspect flying time is the issue. That was the major concern among pilots when I was in.
There are few hiring pilots outside the Air Force, so thats not the reason. Could it be F22 pilots know politics killed their aircraft and that may have had some impact on their morale? Maybe some of them are Christians and are upset with the Air Force for promoting witchcraft to the level of Christianity and Judiasm? Maybe they are upset with Gates and his henchmen’s plans to allow homosexuals into the military? Maybe they are unhappy about seeing targets in Afghanistan and having to go almost to the White House to get approval to shoot those targets? Maybe they are sick and tired of Emperor Obama and his hatred of the military? Maybe they are tired of seeing Nancy Pelosi use the Air Force as her limo serice? Maybe, maybe, maybe?
It's a real shame, since in fact the F-22 is the top fighter in the world. Production should NOT have been stopped. The exports would have brought a pretty penny down the line.
They tax the $%^ out of that bonus. Trust me.
When that pay finally shows up, pilots wonder what the hell happened to it.
These sound like plausible reasons -
“Flying the 5th-generation F-22 Raptor is too easy ...
F-22 pilots aren’t getting enough flight time in the aircraft.”
I wonder if anyone has bothered to ask the pilots. If the few fighter pilots I’ve known are typical, they don’t take well to boredom and they love to fly.
