US Air Force Reporting Pilot Shortage 270
An anonymous reader writes "Times sure have changed: it is no longer cool to be a fighter pilot. The Pentagon expects to be short some 200 fighter pilots this year, and is projecting that shortfall will increase to 700 pilots by 2021. Various factors seem to be involved: better paying jobs in the commercial sector with more stability, the stress of repeated overseas deployments, and the threat that ultimately the job they trained to do — fly planes — is being superseded by remotely-controlled drones. With demand for commercial aviators heating up as thousands of pilots are expected to reach mandatory retirement age (65) in the next five years, the Air Force is caught in a quandary. Where are they going to get the pilots to fly their shiny new F-35s?"
Obvious Solution (Score:5, Funny)
Outsource routine missions to the Indian Air Force and grant thousands of H1B visas to fill the rest of the vacancies.
Well, slashdot is a great place to start (Score:5, Funny)
We're in incredible physical condition, none of us have near-sightedness, or color blindness. We love the military in particular and the government in general. And combat and sports are what we excel at!
You've definitely found the recruitment pool you're looking for!
Aviators (Score:3, Funny)
They can hire some Naval Aviators. They're better than pilots.
Re:F35 and F22 (Score:4, Funny)
Overpriced death-trap it may be, but the F-22 is an elegant tool designed to do a single thing well: wrest control of European airspace from the Soviet Union.
Re:Maybe fix them? (Score:5, Funny)
I've heard the Air Force make this complaint before: No pilots, mission endangered...
My! How they do drone on.
Re:PIlots don't make much (Score:5, Funny)
What I want is a 737 pilot who thinks they are still in an F-16.
Whoo hooo!