Hiring Pressure From Airlines, Low Morale Cited As Factors

The U.S. Air Force could soon face a pilot shortage, given cuts in flying hours, low morale, and hiring pressure from airlines looking for experienced pilots to satisfy new FAA guidelines.

Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning (pictured) said in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine that there is grave concern that pilots in the Air Force may jump to the airlines because they simply aren't flying for the military due to funding issues from sequestration. "We worry that a number of them are going to say 'I'm flying somewhere else,'" he told the magazine. "If I'm looking at my jet parked on the ramp instead of flying it and I can get a job somewhere else flying, then I'm going to do that," he said.

Fanning said that retention rates currently are better than average, but the concerns for a pilot shortage down the road are very real. One of the reasons is that many airline pilots are reaching a mandatory retirement age of 65, and that new FAA guidelines for flying time for first officers give a break to military pilots, allowing them to sit in the right seat of an airliner with 750 hours in their logbooks rather than 1,500 for most applicants.

With the airline industry expected to need some 50,000 pilots over the next 10 years, military officials say they are genuinely concerned that many of them may come from their ranks, leaving the Air Force scrambling to find pilots.

The Air Force does offer a signing bonus program in an effort to retain pilots in years when there are shortages. The standard is $25,000 per year for a five-year commitment. But more recently, the USAF began offering a nine-year deal for a $225,000 bonus, half of which was paid in a lump sum. The Air Force reports that its retention rate is currently about 68 percent, according to the magazine.

FMI: www.af.mil