AF stepping up more flight-hours

The Air Force is stepping up efforts to have its pilots fly about 20 hours per month, which is on average with the other military services, according to Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. AF pilots currently average 17.8 hours a month, he said. The big push is to get more flight-hours while producing, and retaining, additional pilots. In recent week, lawmakers have questioned the AF's numbers after Marine officials testified they’ve been averaging 14-to-16 hours a month, with the AF only flying nine or 10 hours by comparison. "We've dug into” the details and it “really comes down to two areas," Goldfein told the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee: (1) how many pilots produced; and (2) how many pilots retained. The AF is on track to reach its 1,400 pilot-a-year goal, but not until around 2020, he testified. One setback to that goal was the groundings of T-6 Texan II trainers, used for pilot orientation and training flights, over unidentified physiological episodes. The AF ordered an indefinite operational pause for all T-6s at Columbus AFB, Miss.; Vance AFB, Okla.; and Sheppard AFB, Texas. The groundings have since been lifted, but forced the AF to cancel at least one class of pilots training backlogging 82 student-aviators. The AF is on track to get 275 of 444 T-6s back flying, according to Goldfein, and have the remaining aircraft flying by summer. (Source: (Source: Military.com 03/14/18)