Wanted:
Pilots, maintainers and drone operators. Must be experienced, professional, drug free and have a demonstrated ability to work under sometimes stressful conditions.
If that “want ad” sounds tailor-made for those wearing the Air Force uniform, then it accurately reflects the targeted hiring spree U.S. airlines and drone-system operators are on, and airmen are a prime target for jobs offering generous pay, great benefits, good hours — and a guarantee of no deployments or combat duty.
According to a Rand study, airlines will hire 20,000 pilots over the next 10 years and that mirrors a talent search for maintainers and unmanned system specialists.
The military is “sort of low-hanging fruit,” said Tiffany Harvey, who oversees recruiting for Southwest Airlines.
The Rand study suggests that the current round of Air Force incentives, which offer pilots as much as $225,000 in bonuses over nine years, are probably not enough. Nor is the lure of traditional military benefits, such as health care, housing allowances and retirement.
Rand recommends the Air Force bring back the bonus option of 50 percent of Aviator Continuation Pay provided up front in a lump sum and that the Air Force also increase to $30,000 the yearly value for fighter pilots finishing their initial active-duty service commitment.
The Air Force should also index Aviation Career Incentive Pay to inflation for at least all active-duty pilots with six to 13 years of aviation service, Rand recommends.
The Rand proposals are sound, budget-friendly ideas the Air Force should seriously consider. Unless the Air Force can find a way to keep its well-trained and experienced aviators, the aviator shortage will only get worse and the expense of replacing them will get exponentially greater.
