Chief Master Sgt. Erik C. Thompson, Air Education and Training Command’s newest command chief, doesn’t want to reinvent the way the command does business. Instead, he wants to back up its already innovative educators—whom he said are driving training change on a daily basis—in their ...
19th Air Force
The aim is better pilots and more combat capability. The bonus is speed.
Air Education and Training Command’s RPA Training Next effort wants to overhaul how the Air Force builds future RPA pilots and sensor operators. More specifically, it wants to give these Airmen more personalized journeys through the RPA training pipeline instead of making them adhere to ...
The Air Force removed the minimum height requirement for applicants who want to fly as it looks to increase the diversity of those entering USAF cockpits. Under previous standards, pilots must reach a standing height of 64 inches to 77 inches—5 feet, 4 inches to ...
The Air Force is integrating lessons learned from its Pilot Training Next initiative “into the regular pilot-training syllabus” to create an experimental curriculum that will start this summer, 19th AF Commander Maj. Gen. Craig Wills told Air Force Magazine. The ultimate vision for the effort ...
The Air Force needs 2,100 more pilots to reach its goal of 21,000 aviators, indicating that efforts to stem the pilot shortage have not yet been successful. “Increasing production of new aviators remains the most significant lever we have to arrest aircrew shortages,” service officials ...
Nineteenth Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Craig Wills is doubling down on publicizing pilot height waivers to encourage a more diverse population of USAF aviators, he told Air Force Magazine in a Nov. 14 interview. “The reason for now is that we want to get ...