Rated Flyer 4 Life

The Air Force won’t be able to retain pilots by throwing more money at us because the airlines just pay too much, but I do think if they let pilots fly longer and/or have the option to experience other airframes then more potentially could stay.

I understand it’s expensive, but based on the current manning, it seems that some communities (mobility) are over staffed while others (fighters) are short. So in order to keep us ready for future threats and possibly retain more pilots, I think it would be good to allow pilots the option to gain experience in another MDS at least once in their career. Isn’t flexibility the key to air power?

I just think that the Air Force could potentially retain more rated pilots if they were to allow cross flow programs into other airframes throughout a career. It would keep pilots doing what we love, without being in a desk job, and add more flexibility to the overall force. It probably could retain more people who normally would just bounce to the airlines if it meant that they could try to fly their dream plane and/or have a new experience in their Air Force career.

Makes sense. I guess it all comes down to money at the end of the day. I guess if we were in a large scale conflict or if the demand would outweigh the cost you would see things like this happening more often. What about a guy transitioning from a heavy to a bomber?

I’ve heard rumors about how they are trying to experiment with getting fighter qual’d straight out of the T-6 and skipping 38s. There was an article out about it a few months ago…here’s the link https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41789/the-truth-about-the-air-forces-biggest-changes-to-pilot-training-since-the-dawn-of-the-jet-age

Still keep UPT hires, but increase the TX slots so they could get more people into fighters if there is in fact a shortage.

Why does the Air Force not have more TX fighter slots? I feel like it would be less of a risk to take an already qualified pilot who could have gone fighters, but chose heavies and put them through a TX course than it would be to hire a UPT guy off the street. No offense to UPT hires but a rated pilot already knows how to fly the Air Force way…I’m just thinking if there is a fighter pilot shortage this could be a solution to it. Thoughts?

How long do you have to serve AD if you go to TPS? Anyone know guard/reserve people that have successfully gotten into TPS?

I wonder if it’s because they only have a certain amount of transition slots available per year and then they want to make sure someone can get through the training.

Has anyone heard of guys/gals who were rated pilots in other airframes who then later transitioned over to a guard/reserve fighter slot?

Yeah definitely. Keep at it and research/network/grow as much as possible. Great advice bro