The Air Force’s Rated Officer Demonstration Program, announced Aug. 15, will offer pilots assignment preferences in addition to monetary bonuses, a service spokeswoman told Air & Space Forces Magazine on Aug. 18. In addition, pilots will have to sign at least an eight-year contract to receive ...
As the Air Force struggles to ease its pilot shortage, it can still fill all its cockpits, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said June 7. But that has come at the expense of staff jobs normally assigned to pilots, leading the service ...
As the Air Force battles a persistent pilot shortage made worse by aging training aircraft, the service has started approaching its current pilots earlier in their careers to offer retention incentives, hoping to convince them to stay in the military longer, Vice Chief of Staff ...
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.
U.S. military pilots avoid health care or misrepresent and withhold health information from their flight surgeon at greater rates than civilian pilots out of fear they might lose their flying status, according to a new study conducted by Air Force and civilian medical experts. Though ...
Chief of the Air Force Reserve Lt. Gen. John Healy wants to ease the Reserve’s recruiting problem by eliminating bureaucratic hurdles in the transfer process.
Certain Active-duty pilots who renew their contracts can earn up to $420,000 through the service’s 2022 Aviation Bonus program. “Airpower will always be in high demand, and our operational readiness hinges on retaining a force of skilled and experienced aviators,” said Chief of Staff Gen. Charles ...
Active-duty Airmen interested in becoming rated officers can apply to train with the Civil Air Patrol and start their paths to becoming pilots. The Air Force has opened the application window for the Fall 2021 Rated Preparatory Program, the fourth iteration of the approach started ...
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 ...
The Air Force is offering bonuses of up to $420,000 to pilots who commit to staying in uniform for up to 12 years. The service wants to keep pilots in its cockpits longer as it continues to grapple with an ongoing pilot shortage and the ...
The Air Force Weapons School has recognized Capt. Woodruff “Thunder” Johnson, an F-15E Weapons Officer assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., with its 2020 Robbie Risner Award. The annual award—whose namesake, Brig. Gen. James Robinson “Robbie” Risner, was the first living ...