That means that in 10 years, when company grade pilots move to field grade, then the Air Force won’t have the luxury of being able to pull field grade officers from desks into the skies. The company grade shortage that the Air Force is dealing with now will eventually become a field grade shortage once those officers mature, even if the service can retain every single one, which is nearly impossible. The Air Force has even brought back retired pilots to help fill staff gaps. Those experienced field grade officers are not filling staff positions.” “We prioritize the line flying, so that the operational units are fully manned with the pilots that they need to carry out their operational missions. “Today those field grade officers that would normally be doing staff jobs, working policy and those sorts of things are in the air,” Miller said. That makes it so the Air Force has to take its more experienced, field grade officers and keep them in the sky or put them in lower positions. Miller says the largest gap is in less experienced, company grade officers - the pilots who spend most of their time in the air. We talk with FAA, FERC, NASA, NSF and USPTO about how they plan to make data accessible and trusted while maintaining governance.īut, the issue isn’t just about bringing in pilots to fill roles, it’s also about experience and the future makeup of the pilot force. Insight by Tableau: That, say federal data chiefs, is a top priority as they seek to establish data-centric cultures within their agencies.
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We see that as a positive for the Air Force, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to get us back to where we want to be.”Ī majority of the shortage is with fighter pilots, where the service is down about 1,100 airmen. “That’s an improvement over last year, where we were just over 1,900 pilots short. “The Air Force finds itself short about 1,650 pilots,” Miller said. Albert Miller, Air Force director of training and readiness for operations, tells Federal News Network.
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It may take 20 years or more before the Air Force has its pilot shortage situation back to where it is breaking even.įor years, the service has been operating at times with thousands fewer pilots than it needs, and the issue is one that will continue for the long haul, Maj.