The Air Force may not have enough remotely piloted aircraft pilots and sensor operators to stand up a new wing in 2024, as it struggles to retain personnel and increase the size of its instructor pilot cadre, the Government Accountability Office says in a new ...
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 services will likely fall short of their end-strength goals this year because of the impacts of the new coronavirus outbreak, though positive trends in recruitment have remained, the Pentagon’s head of personnel said April 28. Matt Donovan, under secretary of defense for personnel and ...
One upside of the COVID-19 pandemic is that Air Force retention, particularly of pilots and maintainers, will likely improve as the global downturn in the airline business reduces the commercial appetite for people in those specialties, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said ...
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 ...