While some future Air Force pilots wait for cockpits to open up so they can start training, they’re doing everything from public affairs to marshaling aircraft on the flight line, the head of the 19th Air Force said recently—highlighting the persistent problems the service faces ...
The Air Force made little progress in closing its pilot shortage in fiscal 2022, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin wrote in testimony delivered to Congress this week. And issues with training aircraft are slowing down the production of new pilots, he told lawmakers.
The Air Force’s pilot training and safety enterprise is in the midst of a pivotal transition, a panel of top generals said at the AFA Warfare Symposium on March 7, with increased usage of tools like data analytics and high-tech simulators but limited flying hours and ...
The Air Force’s pilot production numbers stayed relatively steady from fiscal 2019 to 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said, an encouraging sign that the service’s efforts to speed up that pipeline are working. That progress could be ...
Air Education and Training Command's fixed-wing trainer aircraft saw a 17 percent improvement in their mission capable rates in fiscal 2020 over the previous year, pushed by investments in facilities, proactive parts replacement, and maintenance reorganzation, the command reported.
The Air Force has long faced a silent crisis: It can’t train and retain enough pilots. And now, challenged to confront peer adversaries, rather than the insurgents it’s been engaging for the last 20 years, even the pilots the service can train aren’t getting the ...
Air Education and Training Command's “Accelerated Path to Wings” program graduated its first-ever class of undergraduate pilots at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, on March 12. The program produces pilots in approximately seven months—five months shorter than typical undergraduate pilot training—by letting student pilots stick ...
Air Education and Training Command has incorporated a focus on human performance optimization—which includes personal resilience, health, fitness, diet, and mental performance—into its Undergraduate Pilot Training 2.5 program, 19th Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Craig D. Wills said at the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace ...
The Air Force is considering changes to its pilot curriculum to curb the rising number of aviation accidents across the service, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said Feb. 25. The Air Force saw 72 accidents in fiscal 2020—10 more than in the ...
U.S. forces in South Korea have not conducted theater-level exercises on the Korean Peninsula for about two years now, and pilots must leave the country for live-fire training, but the head of U.S. Forces Korea said Sept. 10 his readiness remains high despite the challenges. ...
The Air Force hopes to make up lost ground in battling its chronic pilot shortage with Undergraduate Pilot Training 2.5, the main topic of the first field trip for newly minted Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Chief Master Sergeant of the ...
Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost received her fourth star and took over leadership of Air Mobility Command during an Aug. 20 ceremony at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. With the change of command and the retirement of her predecessor, Gen. Maryanne Miller, Van Ovost takes ...