It was six years ago that USAF set up a new introductory flight training program, utilizing civilian flight schools to indoctrinate and screen those who wanted to be USAF pilots. (See our article “The Pre-Pilots Fly Again” from June 1999.) Now, USAF plans to recast IFT into a new shorter program taught at a centralized location—to be named—that will more resemble USAF-type training. The current IFT runs 50 hours, but Air Force Education and Training Command chopped that in half. The current civilian schools conducting IFT will use the new 25-hour AETC syllabus to screen pilot candidates—at least until the new program—dubbed initial flight screening—starts up in October 2006.
Pakistan's kill chain of Chinese-origin weapons was likely a bigger factor in shooting down an Indian fighter than the jets' relative strengths, an expert said.