Fighter Pilot Shortage – Building Readiness and Morale with Effective Training

According to Fox News, the Air Force could recall up to 1,000 retired pilots after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at addressing what the Pentagon has described as an “acute shortage of pilots.”

“The pilot supply shortage is a national level challenge that could have adverse effects on all aspects of both the government and commercial aviation sectors for years to come.” – Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross

What’s fueling the Air Force pilot shortage?

The commercial pilot shortage.

In fact, the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are facing parallel challenges as the commercial airline industry embarks on a prolonged hiring wave fueled by many of its senior pilots hitting mandatory retirement age. In fact, 42 percent of all current pilots will reach retirement age in the next 10 years. Additionally, the FAA recently changed its requirements, mandating that commercial airline pilots must have 1,500 flight hours under their belts. This means that military-trained pilots have become even more attractive than usual.

How to fix it?

According to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein

“What we found in the past — and we’ve been through this before because airlines have hired before — is quality of service is as important as quality of life. And quality of service is making sure that you’re given the opportunity to be the best you can be in your design, in your chosen occupation. Pilots who don’t fly, maintainers who don’t maintain, controllers who don’t control, will walk. And there’s not enough money in the Treasury to keep them in if we don’t need to give them the resources to be the best they can be. In my mind, readiness and morale are inexplicably linked. Where we have high readiness, we tend to have high morale because they’re given the opportunities to compete. Where we have low readiness, we have our lowest morale.”

How to Build Readiness and Morale for employee retention

To make up ground in the quality of life department, the Air Force reduced additional training and extra duties for airmen, so they can have more free time. But, is that the answer?

Previously, this blog has advanced the notion that life long learning is key to personal and career fulfillment. We’ve also shared research about how investing in employee development boosts morale and loyalty.Both factors are critical to employee retention in the corporate environment. The same could be true for Air Force pilots. Instead of reducing their additional training, perhaps the Air Force should consider ways to make it more impacting and motivating.  This way, training could contribute to “readiness” instead of detracting from “quality of life.”

In our work with aviation clients, we’ve found that an adaptive, personalized training approach ensures that pilots understand the concepts they’re required to learn. It also promotes greater satisfaction and readiness to perform. For example, commercial pilots training for FAA exams through the Fulcrum platform demonstrated:

• 31% knowledge improvement
• 100% pass rate on FAA oral and written exams
• 81% positive learner feedback

We know that more effective, efficient training isn’t the answer to every problem. But it can boost employee retention and motivation. It can also improve readiness and build morale. So let’s take a cue from Maverick and embrace the role that training might have to play in reducing the fighter pilot shortage.