LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — It’s no secret that the Air Force is short on pilots. In fact, at the end of 2018, the service was in need of roughly 2,000 pilots. However, a new study the Defense Department delivered to Congress sheds more light on the makeup of the shortage and the exact challenges the Air Force and DoD have in digging out of the hole.

“Pilot shortages in the military are a recurring problem,” explains Brett Vance, host of TV’s Jet Jockeys, “As a career fighter pilot and test pilot in the Air Force, I have personally seen these pilot manning numbers swing to both sides of the pendulum several times. With booming economies, pilots are attracted to the generally higher-paying civilian jobs, such as the major airlines or large aircraft manufacturers. In contracting economies, pilots gravitate toward the security of a military career, despite the seemingly constant deployments.”

Brett Vance is the host of TV’s Jet Jockeys, an upcoming docu-reality series focusing on pilots and the planes they fly. In it, Vance does for aviation enthusiasts what Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs has done for the dignity of the trades and what Neil de Grasse Tyson of Cosmos has done for our sense of wonder about the universe. The sacrifices, accomplishments, and challenges of pilots are front and center in each episode, and leadership and bravery are commonly addressed. Basically, it’s the perfect show for any aviation enthusiast, a title Brett Vance gladly owns and wears.

The newest pilot shortage study tackles the issue from seven different angles including pilot quality of life, quality of service, what it would take to increase the pilot training pipeline and how feasible a “pilot-only career track” would be. It states that the Air Force and DoD are attacking the pilot issue from all angles, but it’s a long and expensive road ahead and even then, it still seems to be a losing battle.

“The problem seems to be more pronounced in the fighter community. Comparatively little time at home with both heavy operational tempos and those deployments take a toll,” continues Vance, “additionally, as numbers of pilots dwindle, those who remain find themselves assigned to frequent non-flying duties to take up the slack caused by the departure of others to overseas deployments. I myself served as a civilian test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base following my career as a commissioned officer to take up that slack and provide stability to the execution of the mission at Edwards. Many of our military test pilots were deployed for months at a time, but we were there to make up that deficit and accomplish that mission.”

The Air Force is hurting for about 800 active duty pilots and 1,150 reserve pilots. As stated by Vance, the shortfall is most acute within the fighter community. An estimate from the RAND Corporation states the active duty pilot deficit will grow to 1,607 by 2023. Military leaders in Washington have designed several tools to attempt to stabilize this recurring retention problem. Bonuses for continuing beyond the initial service commitment are a common approach. However, it was surprising how even a very generous bonus was declined because the work on the outside was so lucrative.

“Another tool—the flying-only career track—was established to incentivize people to stay in the cockpit,” states Vance, “For a string of guaranteed flying assignments, officers were told they would not become senior leaders and rank was capped. Lots of folks took that route to keep that fighter cockpit.” To bring it full-circle, the pendulum is swinging again toward the retention conditions caused by a booming economy. Exacerbating that effect now is the recent history of years and years of frequent deployments to combat zones.

“Our leaders in DC in all the services now face significant challenges to provide our country with sufficient numbers of qualified pilots. Bonuses? Sure. Flying-only career tracks? Absolutely. Just realize that it takes years and years to grow a military pilot,” elaborates Vance, “With all of the courses and training, producing a highly-skilled fighter pilot is a true national asset that costs millions of dollars to produce.”

Obviously, this is an issue that could plague the nation in a number of ways, whether in times of peace or war. Even the training for non-military pilots can be just as rigorous. “There are similar training and experience tracks for pilots of the big jets that are just as complex, concludes Vance, “It is no wonder that we as a nation are concerned about our military pilot shortage. Rightly so.”

SOURCE Jet Jockeys