Posted on 03/12/2013 3:37:00 PM PDT by Timber Rattler
Who wants to be a fighter pilot? If you asked the question 20 years ago, almost everyone would raise their hand, but today this is no longer the case.
The state of the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) fighter force and the morale of its airmen and women have been in a steady spiral of decline since Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne resigned at the behest of then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2008.
So, who wouldn’t want to be a fighter pilot? Apparently at least 900 people as judged by the current training and retention shortage within the air force. The problem is so severe that there are currently 50 open pilot slots at the Air Force Academy and the USAF’s flying training syllabus is being cut by 18% to expedite candidates through the system. Further compounding this is the fact that just 45% of academy students are pilot qualified, down from the previous low of 70%.
(snip)
So why are trainee pilots shunning the fast jet community? The post-2008 ‘Qweep’, or career- broadening requirements, are a huge cause. This requires pilots to get their master’s degree, have community involvement, etc, on top of deployment, training, and platform-centric requirements.
(snip)
A recent deployment had one fighter squadron augmenting another with 10 pilots. It is hard to believe that one squadron could be that many pilots short. The augmenting squadron had just returned from its own deploy- ment and one of the three pilots who spoke to me said that he is to leave as soon as possible and that the fighter community is a mess.
(Excerpt) Read more at fighterpilotuniversity.com ...
Drones are eventually going to kill most every combat aircraft role. It’s pretty inevitable when the drones will one day be able to execute turns, dives, snap rolls, and other tactics at a g-load that would kill an onboard pilot.
Are the masters degrees and community involvement because pilots are more likely to achieve flag rank?
“So why are trainee pilots shunning the fast jet community? The post-2008 ‘Qweep’, or career- broadening requirements, are a huge cause.”
So, you could say this is a case of “mission qweep”?
900 people that never saw top gun!
I’m 60 and would one trip in anything that has g force!
This is a BS article!
Young Men and women still have aspirations of valor in this country!
Believe me there will always be fighter pilots! With exception to this fool reporter!
I got this as email the other day. There’s a link to Fighter Pilot Trivia and then to all kinds of fun tests on the military aviation. Here’s the link:
http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/world/us_military/usaf.html
It says USAF but there’s questions about all services assets.
“Pilots are getting little flying time: eight to nine sorties a month, although in Europe, with poor weather and no ranges, it is down to two to three sorties with four to five simulator rides. This is not what they signed up for.”
That is the sort of thing that has pushed fighter pilots out in the past...
The hottest thing in the Army when I was in was going to helicopter pilot school. The Army, unlike the Air Force, has a second route to becoming a pilot, warrant officer. You’re neither fish nor fowl, but that has benefits in many ways.
Not in the current PC military. Go back and read the article---fighter pilots are being forced to do everything EXCEPT fly.
When females are doing it, then it is time for men looking to be special, to look for something else.
“I am Santini, the Great Santini.
I come from behind the moon, out of the dark, unannounced.
Watch out! “
When women enter a profession, the men leave the building!
Don’t fighter pilots get all of the hot girls? The really nice hot ones? What’s change?
And the corollary, When gays enter a profession, the straights leave the building!
Many years ago I read a piece describing how, when females start taking over a profession or traditionally respected high prestige job or calling, then that is an indicator that the prestige of that profession is in decline.
Except that women love having a gay man in their circle. It’s like having a friend with benefits - just not the benefits you think of first.
I guess I should have specified that the straight males leave the building.
So is a heavy dose of commerical pilot recruitments. Military pilots are paid peanuts compared to their commerical counterparts.
In the era of the Kardashians, the "really nice hot ones" are no longer interested in men with the limited earning potential of an Air Force officer. :)
Master’s degree? Every dang pilot in the Oregon Air Guard seemed to have a Masters in Engineering. Not some History, Business, or General Science degree. OK, except for the token affirmative action BG.
The Air Force is so broken beyond repair. The amount of time and money spent on everything except the mission is staggering. I thought the Army Guard was a joke, (did 1 tour active Army out of HS) when I switched to Air Guard the crybaby attitudes were amazing. Then I deployed to Kuwait and had to deal with active duty Air Force jokers. Just wow... It would take an epic novel worth of typing to describe the lack of professionalism, lack of leadership in junior NCO’s, lack of discipline, and total disregard for the mission I saw there.
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