Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
The Air Force is running out of fighter pilots.
The Air Force believes that the primary cause of this exodus is the recent hiring boom by the airline industry which offers experienced military pilots lucrative civilian jobs. Pilots cite too many Micky Mouse requirements, not enough flying.
I say this is the result of the Colgan fiasco nearly 10 years ago. It’s the inevitable consequence of a bureaucratic butt-covering reaction by the NTSB and FAA which rippled through the industry and now into the military.
Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed short of the runway while on approach for landing at Buffalo, New York in a wintry mix of snow and fog. The pilots knew they had ice on the wings (which reduces lift,especially at low speeds such as when landing). The airplane systems worked correctly to warn the pilot but the pilot over-rode the warnings. 50 people died in the crash.
In response, the FAA raised the minimum experience requirement for airline pilots to 1500 hours. The pilot shortage would have manifested itself sooner but the mandatory retirement age was raised from 65 to 70, which kicked the can down the road but did nothing to solve the cause of the shortage: expense. When I took flying lessons years ago, it cost about $150 per hour to fly with an instructor in a little airplane like a Cessna. Flying multi-engine and jet airplanes cost much more. 1500 hours at even a modest $200 per hour is $300,000 which nobody can afford.
Nobody but military pilots. They don’t pay to fly, they get paid to fly. As Baby Boomer pilots retire, airlines are scrambling to find qualified pilots and the biggest source is military. In effect, the military is subsidizing the airlines’ pilot training program.
If the Air Force solves its retention problem, look for airlines to begin hiring foreign pilots in droves, stealing from their airlines and their militaries.
Joe Doakes
As long as they increase the seat size, I don’t care if they hire Chinese Navy pilots.
The politicized leadership of the AF specifically and the DoD in general is a big factor in this too. Guys are tired of working for people they don’t respect.
I don’t care if they hire Chinese Navy pilots.
Xnay. Have you ever flown any Chinese airlines? You do not wish this onto yourself, trust me.
Pretty cool. Screw up by a pilot, screw up by the FAA, screw ups by the Air Force, all in one. And instead of noting that the crash in question was a function of a pilot being willfully irresponsible–ignoring known ice on the wings is like driving drunk, really–they had to “do something”, didn’t they?
I’m also having trouble believing that many military pilots are leaving the service simply because of pay. Leaving the cockpit of an F16 for a A320 or 757 is like leaving a Mustang to drive a tour bus. You’ve got to have a pretty good reason to do that.
On of the important factors in Colgan Air was bone crushing fatigue. Those guys had been awake for about 24 hours….
While we were staying just outside of Budapest this summer I ended up spending an evening in a bistro with Chaba, a former Hungarian AF fighter pilot (I know, you can find lots of “former fighter pilots” in bars). He had been part of the NATO forces enforcing the No Fly Zone to protect the Kurds from Saddam. Relatively light duty, in terms of combat scenarios, but he said the soul-sucking aspects of the situation the chain of command, and tactics that were political instead of strategic or tactical made him decide to get out when he had the chance. Knowing that your life may be put on the line is part of the deal for anyone accepting military service; knowing that it could be squandered fecklessly, though, eats at you. He said he does miss the life a bit, especially the training assignments in Texas where he learned English and some impressive profanity, but he’s glad he left.
gl whistler – you’re right, but that’s not the cause of the current problem.
If the FAA had said “You can’t fly if you’ve been awake more than X hours,” it would have addressed the fatigue factor. It would have been a big dispute with the unions because a pilot who lives in Minneapolis might be scheduled to fly out of Memphis so he has to “commute to work” as a passenger before he enters the cockpit.
Raising the number of hours to 1,500 simply makes it harder to get in the cockpit door, it does nothing to keep you awake.
I’m also having trouble believing that many military pilots are leaving the service simply because of pay. Leaving the cockpit of an F16 for a A320 or 757 is like leaving a Mustang to drive a tour bus. You’ve got to have a pretty good reason to do that.
BB: I don’t know how much the fighter jocks are paid. I also don’t know how much lesser military pilots (e.g. flying a cargo plane full of rubber dogshit out of Hong Kong) are paid. I do know that the top pilots flying the big planes (747/777/787/DC10) at the major US airlines are well into the 6 figures, maybe over $200K now. Given how the rest of the military is paid, I imagine that would be a HUGE pay raise. I also do not know how high into the plane ranking those guys coming out of the military get inserted. Maybe they go straight to the big boys, or maybe they’re stuck flying 737s between Mpls and SLC and probably not making the big bucks for a while. “I know a guy” (I went to HS with him) who flew F18s for the Navy for a few years. I THINK he’s retired and flying civy with Delta now. I’ll message him on FB and see what he says.
Bill C, you don’t need to message a friend. You’ve got me. This is what I do for a living.
There is never just one reason for anything in real life. Yes, it is a pay raise to retire/separate from the Mil and get a job with the Bigs. Not as big as you think. Yes, you can make over 200K but it will take a decade or so to work your way up the seniority list to that level. But you can make well over 100K within a year or so of getting off probation.
So, yes, pay is a reason.
But a lot of guys I fly with pretty much hold the politicization of senior leadership to be a big reason too. They are tired of being under UCMJ discipline to a commander that just doesn’t give a about you. Plus operations tempo and time away from home to fight the “Hobby War” that no one much cares about doing what needs to be done to vanquish the foe and achieve victory.
Plus when you are home all of the idiotic briefings and time wasters to salve some bureaucrats politically correct whims. Plus filling education squares. And any other idiotic thing your commander orders you to do to make him look better to his superiors.
Bill C – pay for the pilots will vary on time in service and on duty location, but not by airframe. So, an F-16 pilot and a C130 pilot make the same, all other things being equal.
As for pay, a 1st LT with 2 years makes $3,982/mo. A Captain (O3) with 6 years, $5,657. A Major (O4) with 8 = $6,446. They all get $254 a month for food. Flight pay changes based on time flying, but we’ll just say it’s $200/mo. Housing allowance will change based on duty location and if there are dependents. But, we’ll go with $1,800/mo as an average.
So, the LT is making $74,832. The Major $104,400.
I’d agree with GL that there are a lot of other reasons to get out of the service besides pay. The pilots that I know that made the switch did it because they were sick of moving every couple of years. Or the spouse was.
If the major factor for Colgan was fatigue, did the FAA do anything to deal with that? Even with “just” driving, being awake 24 hours is said to be like driving drunk, no?
bikebubba… Yes the FAA did. It’s the prime example of what happens when the Admin State (FAA), the Congress (Dem controlled at the time), ALPA and the Airlines all have to pee in the stew.
The resulting FAR Part 117 made the whole situation more complex, harder to understand and probably didn’t really change much at all in reality.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/part-117
Given that the Air Force wanted to get rid of the A-10 as remotely piloted Drones flourished under President Drone Strike, er, Obama, I would imagine the Air Force will be seeking replacements at the local GameStop Store. What the airlines will do after their ‘minor leagues’ fail to have any actual pilots to pilfer, well, re-watch the “Airplane!” movies for your reassurance. And government will have yet another argument for you to ride the train (or shelter in place in your concrete high rise).
I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue.
Mitch,
sorry I missed this one….I would merely add
1. The requirements to do so many non-flying things in order to promote (of course it’s ‘up or out’) that suck the life out of a killer
2. As one gets more senior, the flying opportunities become harder, requiring more sacrifices by ones family in order to keep the edge
When the fun meter only got to move into the positive side 4 or 5 times a month while the daily floggings continued it was the signal of the end
Finally, right before I retired, an entire class of F-16 students graduated from Luke only to receive orders to Nevada to fly MQ-1s….talk about a kick in the Jimmy’s!!!!